Chicken and dumplings

One of the strongest food memories from my childhood is the time we went to a Methodist church supper for chicken and dumplings. We attended Catholic schools, and I worried that it was vaguely sinful to go to a Protestant church for dinner. But what a revelation! These anonymous ladies at the Methodist church created a fabulous meal with plump dumplings, a luscious broth and melt-in-your-mouth chicken.

My mother never cooked chicken and dumplings because her fried chicken was so good. Perhaps because the standard was set so high by the Methodist ladies, I've rarely attempted it myself. But the recipe in Molly Stevens' All About Braising was too appealing to resist.

Rather than the traditional method of poaching the dumplings in the broth the chicken is cooking in, Stevens has you cook everything separately. So first you sear the salted and peppered chicken parts in 2 Tbl. butter (I elected the thighs and legs option instead of the cut-up chicken). She insists that you just color the chicken pieces frying 4 min. a side, not brown them. Remove, pour off the fat, heat 2 more Tbl. butter, and sautee 1 medium onion chopped into 1/2-in. pieces, 2 celery stalks likewise chopped, 1 large shallot chopped, 2 strips lemon zest, and scant 1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg with sprinkling of salt and pepper until vegetables are soft. Add 1/2 c. dry white wine and simmer for 7 min. (until 3/4 of the wine is gone), add another 1/2 c. wine and simmer another 6 or 7 min. Add the stock and bring to simmer, then add the chicken pieces (if using cut-up chicken, keep the breasts out for the first 10 min.). Check heat after 10 min. to make sure braise is at a slow simmer, turn chicken pieces (add white meat) and simmer a further 25 to 30 min.

Remove the chicken pieces to platter and loosely cover with foil. In the meantime, you have mixed the dumpling batter, whisking 1 c. flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. coarse salt, 1 Tbl. chopped parsley, 1 Tbl. chopped chives or scallion ends (I just used 2 Tbl. parsley), and scant 1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg (call it a pinch). You make a well in the dry ingredients, put in a whole egg at room temperature and add 6 Tbl. milk. Whisk ingredients together, adding up to 2 Tbl. more milk if batter is too stiff (mine was still pretty stiff with all 8 Tbl. milk), then whisk in 2 Tbl. butter, melted and cooled. Don't overmix, Stevens warns, because that will toughen dumplings. Form the dumplings with 2 tablespoons and put into the braising liquid, which you have strained to remove the aromatics (and skimmed for fat, a step I skipped). Simmer for 5 min. on one side, then gently turn and simmer for another 5 min. Remove to platter with the chicken.

Whisk together a liaison from 2 egg yolks, 1/2 c. heavy cream, salt and pepper. Whisk in a ladle-full of the braising liquid, and then whisk the liaison back into the pan with the rest of the braising liquid, stir and avoid bringing to a boil. If sauce tastes starchy, add a squeeze of lemon (I did anyway, what the heck). When sauce has thickened, pour over chicken and dumplings, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

This was different than the church supper, but it was extremely good. The Stevens book has been a great find, with many wonderful braising recipes.