Chicken and Dumplings

"In the dim background of our mind, we know what we ought to be doing but somehow we cannot start". (William James). I don't know who William James is, but that describes my motivational energy last week. Winter can be a drain - and I had started a blog post but had trouble with photos so I am trying again.

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Last week I made one of my favourite comfort foods, Chicken and Dumplings, that is full of good things and easy to make. Allow about an hour for this recipe. We had a generous serving for dinner with enough for leftovers another evening (but our kids don't really eat it much). If the whole family loves it, there probably won't be leftovers. I deliberately set aside leftovers first (kind of an oxymoron) so I know I have another meal, and then we eat what is left. Fill out the meal with bread and salad if you wish.

For the stew you will need:

4 chicken breasts, with skin and bone

6 med carrots

2 med onions

6 stalks of celery

4 medium potatoes

2 bay leaves

2 fresh rosemary sprigs (or 1tsp dry)

2 fresh thyme sprigs (or 1 tsp dry)

1 T peppercorns

2 t. salt (or to taste - it is flavouring the broth)

Feel free to add any other herbs or spices you like, vegetables, and even wine. (mmm). I would have added a few fresh allspice if I'd had them, but play around with different ones to change it up now and then. 

(Dumpling recipe follows)

Make the broth:

In a large pot place the chicken, half of the carrots, onion, and celery,  roughly chopped (I scrub the carrots versus peel them, and all parts of celery can go in too), and the herbs and spices. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium and let simmer for twenty minutes. Strain all into a large bowl, set chicken aside, and discard all other veggies/herbs (unless you want it for something).

** Did you know broth is the liquid from cooking meat while stock is usually made of the bones? Stock is supposed to have more depth of flavour from the gelatin released from bones. In this stew I am cooking the meat and the bone, but not for an extensive period of time, so I would call this a broth. It is pretty flavourful though, partly from keeping the skin on as well as the bone.**

While the broth is simmering, prepare the vegetables for soup. The first half of the vegetables are for flavouring the broth, not for eating as they will get soggier and less flavourful.

Peel and slice or dice, as preferred,  the remaining carrots, onion, celery, and the potatoes. Once you have returned the liquid to the pot, add the vegetables and let simmer gently while you debone the chicken and dice it or shred it. This might take ten or fifteen minutes, and allows the vegetables to cook slowly.

Add the chicken to the pot again, and make the dumplings. The combination of potatoes, and the dumplings will thicken the broth to a stew, you don't have to add flour. Once you spoon dumpling mixure onto the stew, you want to cover and let simmer for about fifteen minutes, and you do not remove the cover, this way the dumplings steam and puff up nicely.

I used a dumpling recipe found on allrecipes (dumplings), but use your favourite. If you don't have one, there are recipes that have more butter, and cream, so try more until you find your fave. I added about a teaspoon of herbs to mine (mixture of whatever you like, I used parsley and thyme). I would normally double the dumpling batch - and I made these really small, which is why there aren't many in the photo. We are trying to eat less bready things, so I didn't double it this time but wished I had. They're always the best part. 

Enjoy!