Frank and I had an extra day off for New Year's weekend, so after four relaxing days at home (plus one harrowing trip to Ikea), I'm in a bit of denial that the work week starts tomorrow. In response, I've been cooking stock. It's my favorite answer to the back-to-work blues - requiring little time or attention, yet making the apartment smell like homey heaven. The stock will go straight into the freezer as what I had tucked away went into that plate of goodness that you see up top. It was one of those weekends where it paid to have something soul-warming to bring to the table on Sunday night. After all the travel and holiday parties and toasts with various cocktails, we needed something with the spirit-lifting benefits of comfort food, minus the calories. I considered it a sign that I was getting my weekly fill of poetic loveliness via Soule Mama when she mentioned the exact thing that I knew we needed on our Sunday table. Chicken and dumplings.
I had never made chicken and dumplings, but it is one of those dishes that the mere mention of makes my southern husband’s eyes go wide and somewhat dreamy. I know that what he would really like is chicken pot pie, but with all the layers and butter, that one will have to wait. It is the new year, after all. Chicken and dumplings are a worthy runner-up. And this recipe is hard to beat. The dumplings are not only easy to pull together, but the dose of rosemary is fantastically fragrant and gives the entire dish an elegance one does not immediately expect from chicken and dumplings.
It's back to work tomorrow, but I've still got a few hours to relax at home, contemplate my assembly-required Ikea lamps, and breath in the aroma of homemade chicken stock.
Chicken Stew with Rosemary-Parmesan Dumplings
Ingredients
for the stew:
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ½ cup chopped celery
- ½ cup chopped carrot
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ¼ cup flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 1 pound fresh or frozen peas
for the dumplings:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tbsp. hard butter, cut in several pieces
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
- 3 Tbsp. finely grated fresh parmesan
- ⅔ cup low-fat milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat the butter in a dutch oven on the stove over medium heat Add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and sauté until the outside of the chicken is cooked, about 3 minutes (the chicken should not be cooked all the way through, as it will finish in the oven). Sprinkle with flour and mix well. Add the broth, sugar, pepper, rosemary, bay leaves, and parsley; bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Cover and bake in a 350°F oven 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in the butter until well blended. Combine the egg, rosemary, parmesan, and milk, and add all at once to the dry mixture; blend quickly with a fork, just enough to moisten.
- Remove the pan from the oven and increase the oven heat to 425°F. Remove bay leaves. Bring to a boil on top of the stove. Add the peas to the stew. Shape dough with your hands into sixteen dumplings and drop onto boiling stew. Return to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Cover, and cook 10 minutes longer. Serve immediately.
Notes
Shared by Soule Mama, and adapted from Herb Companion.
movita beaucoup
Ug. I have to go back to work today. I wish I had some of this perfect stew to put in my belly before heading back into the real world...
Happy New Year!
Ellen Smith
How about chicken AND potatoes, that would probably make your husband happy too 😉 Happy New Year, love you!!
Claire @ Claire K Creations
Yes back to work can be a depressing time of the year but comfort food is definitely the the way to lift your spirits! Good luck with the IKEA assembling. I always have to put everything together as soon as we get home or it sits in its box for ages.
Melissa
I made this for dinner last night (complete with your homemade stock) and it was delicious! The perfect meal for an icy DC day. I spent all day in the warm kitchen remembering the important things in life - slowing down, catching my breath, and spending time with my friends and family. Thanks for reminding me 🙂
jessica
Melissa - I'm so glad to hear that you liked it! I saw what a cold, icy weekend you guys had - perfect weather for cozy kitchen activities. Hope you're doing well!
Sarah
Given that I could not stop thinking about chicken and dumplings yesterday, I'm so happy I stumbled across this recipe! I hope you'll consider contributing it for this month's Shine Supper Club--the theme is one-pot meals.
Sarah
PS I love Soule Mama, too.
Jessica
I am expecting a baby in a few weeks and want to make this to freeze, but I don't understand at what point to stop following the recipe and freeze it! (I'm not much of a cook!) Can you give me more detailed directions for doing that? Thank you! It looks so tasty!
Jess
Hi Jessica - congratulations! You're in for so much fun - my girls just turned 6 months old, and it gets more and more fun every day. I'm glad you asked about this - I definitely did not give great directions for how I freeze it. Here's what I do: Make the stew on the stovetop (all of step 1, but do not put it in the oven); let it cool to room temp and put it in freezer bags to freeze. (Since the original recipe serves 8, I divide it into 2-3 freezer bags so later I can defrost just enough for a serving for my husband and I.) Seperately (you can even do this on a different day), do all of step 2 to make the dumplings. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use your hands to make round balls of dough out of the dumpling mix and put them on the parchment paper. They'll be sort of wet and uneven, but don't worry - they don't need to look great. Put the baking sheet in the freezer until the dumplings are frozen solid. Transfer the dumplings to plastic bags and freeze.
THEN, whenever you're ready to cook this, defrost a portion of the stew and bake it, covered at 350 degrees until boiling. Drop the frozen dumplings into the boiling stew and bake, uncovered, until the dumplings are puffy and golden and cooked through. (You may have to bake this a bit longer than the original recipe says since the dumplings will be frozen when you drop them into the stew, but they shouldn't take too long to cook.)
I hope that helps - seems like the instructions came out sort of long, but it's really worth the extra step. This was one of my favorite meals in the month or two after I had my daughters. I really loved the Lebanese chicken and chickpea stew as well, so try that one too if it sounds like something you might like!
Jessica
Thanks for your quick reply! I thought that stew looked good-- I'll try that too! I'll let you know how it goes! 🙂 Thank you!