Chicken and Dumplings

Can we talk more about comfort food?  So yesterday I was going to cook Chicken and Dumplings cause it was cold, and we needed comfort food, with lots of gravy.  Alas, I couldn’t find my recipe!  I scoured a Taste of Home Chicken magazine and found one that seemed okay with a few exceptions.  Okay, two major exceptions – it called for green peppers.  I don’t do green peppers.  Secondly, it did not call for (are you sitting down?) – garlic.   OBVIOUSLY revisions were needed, cause in my books garlic is an essential food group in itself.  After these revisions, this recipe turned out better than my original one!

Now hubby here is a major proponent of Cast Iron Dutch Oven cooking.  Silly me, I took a long time to convert.  But let me tell you nothing cooks a stewy, gravy, slow cooked dish like a dutch oven does.  They look like this:

So, that’s the 3rd exception to making this recipe.  You need a dutch oven.  If you don’t have one, buy one, you too will be a convert.

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Chicken and Dumplings

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

Chicken:

• 1 cup flour
• 3 tsp paprika, divided
• 2 tsp salt
• 5 pound fryer chicken pieces (or approx. 6 thighs, 2 breasts)
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ cup white wine
• ½ cup each chopped: celery, onion, carrot
• ¼ cup chopped red pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2½ to 3½ cups chicken broth
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• ¼ cup milk or cream (optional)
• 2 T cornstarch
• 2 T water
• fresh ground pepper

Dumplings:

• 1¼ cup flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 T parsley

Instructions

1. Combine flour, 2 tsp paprika and salt. Coat chicken pieces with flour mixture (be sure to cut breasts in chunks so they absorb lots of moisture/gravy).
2. In a Dutch oven, heat the butter and olive oil over med-high heat. (Butter adds unbeatable flavor to the gravy, so just do it, book some time on the treadmill later.) Brown chicken on both sides. Remove chicken and set aside.
3. Add white wine and deglaze the pan (scrape those brown yummy bits up from the bottom and mix them in). Add celery, onion, carrot, red pepper and garlic and sauté until tender
4. Add broth, chicken, remaining paprika and chopped fresh thyme. Cover and simmer gently for 45 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken and keep warm in oven.
5. For dumplings, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Beat egg and milk, stir into flour mixture and mix well. Drop dough (it'll be sticky) 1 tablespoon at a time into simmering broth. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove dumplings and keep warm in oven with chicken while you thicken your gravy.
6. For gravy, add milk or cream to broth (if you would like a creamy gravy), then combine cornstarch and water together, and stir into broth. Bring to a boil, cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat, reintroduce your chicken and dumplings into your yummy gravy and enjoy!

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