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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Chicken and Dumplings


My husband is a fan of chicken.  You could prepare it in any way and he's likely to enjoy it.  So if I make a chicken something and he likes it, that's not a good measure of success.  However, if I like it a lot, that's saying something.  I recently bought a enamel coated cast iron dutch oven, and that's how I prepared this, though you could use a standard one.

Ingredients
6-8 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
3-4 chicken legs or 4-5 chicken wings
2 onions, finely chopped
2 ribs of celery, finely chopped
3 carrots, in 2 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 tsp dried thyme
3 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 c white wine
kosher salt
black pepper
vegetable oil

Dumplings
2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 c buttermilk
1 egg white

Non-standard supplies
Far separator, but you could spoon it if you lack one

Instructions
  1. Heat dutch oven with 1 tsp vegetable oil
  2. Pat thighs dry and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper
  3. Add thighs, skin down and cook over medium high heat for 6-8 minutes per side, until golden brown
  4. Cook thighs in batches if needed.  Remove from pan after browned - it's ok that it's not fully cooked
  5. Drain chicken fat/oil from pot, but don't wipe the pot clean
  6. Add onions, celery and carrots and cook until caramelized, about 10 minutes
  7. Just as vegetables are finishing, add garlic and stir to prevent burning of garlic
  8. Deglaze with wine and add thyme
  9. After all browned bits are lifted, add chicken stock
  10. Return par-cooked thighs to the pot, add raw legs/wings and simmer, covered for 45-55 min
  11. Test chicken thighs with a knife, and it should be tender
  12. Remove all chicken from pot and turn off heat.
  13. Discard legs/wings 
  14. Let thighs rest, cool until they can be handled without injury
  15. Drain/Skim fat from broth
  16. Remove skin, bones and anything gross from the thighs, then cut into bite-sized pieces
  17. Reunite the chicken and the broth and bring to boil -- meanwhile prepping dumpling dough
  18. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a bowl
  19. Stir melted butter into buttermilk with a fork - the butter will form solids.  Add egg white to butter and buttermilk
  20. Pour liquids into flour mixture and stir with a spatula until all powder is wet and dough forms a ball
  21. Add parsley to pot
  22. Form dough into gumball sized pieces - approximately 20-30 and add to boiling broth
  23. Wrap a kitchen towel around the lid of the pot so the evaporated moisture doesn't return to the pot and cover
  24. Let dumplings cook for 13-15 min, until toothpick comes out clean

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