A Green Girl's Guide to Food and Life: Chicken and Dumplings

Let's see... I've also made homemade Chicken and Dumplings FROM SCRATCH! Yes, I know, people do this all the time, but I had not. I'm not a huge fan of chicken and dumplings, but for some reason I was having a serious craving for it! About that time I happened upon a blog post over at My Baking Adventures with an amazing sounding recipe! It turned out great! Here is the link to her recipe, and here it is again, but with all my tweaks!

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Stock

1 (3 to 3 ½ pound) whole organic chicken

2 bay leaves

6 sprigs thyme

4 to 5 black peppercorns

1 tbs. salt

Dumplings:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

3 T All purpose seasoning

Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons oil

2 carrots, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

6 cups chicken stock

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen pearl onions

1/2 cup heavy cream

Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

Chopped chives, for garnish

For the stock:

Place the chicken and all stock ingredients in a large Dutch oven and cover with water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour until the chicken is tender. Skim the surface of fat and scum as it cooks.

When done remove the chicken to a cutting board. Strain the stock and shred the meat into big pieces – the stock will be used for the sauce and the chicken will be folded into it.

For the dumplings:

Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat the eggs, seasoning and milk together; pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold. Mix just until the dough comes together; the batter should be thick and cake-like.

For the sauce:

In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Add the carrots, garlic, and bay leaves and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Continue to stir and cook for 2 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Slowly pour in the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add frozen peas and pearl onions.

Let sauce simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. The original recipe said that this would take about 15 mins, but it took mine close to 30-40 mins. Stir in the heavy cream. Fold the reserved shredded chicken into the sauce and bring up to a simmer. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dumpling batter into the hot mixture. The dumplings should cover the top of the sauce, but should not be touching or crowded. Let the dumplings poach for 7 to 9 minutes until they start to get puffy. Flip the dumplings and cook for an additional 7 to 9 minutes, or until they are firm and puffy. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season with freshly cracked black pepper and garnish with chopped chives before serving.