MMMMM----------------------------STEW---------------------------------
1/4 c Oil
4 lg Carrots; thick-sliced
- diagonally (2 c)
1 Celery heart (leaves and
- tender ribs); thick-sliced
- diagonally, leaves chopped
- fine (2 c)
1 lg Yellow onion; chopped
4 cl Garlic; thin sliced
4 c Cooked, deboned chicken from
- a stewing hen
8 c Chicken stock/broth
2 Bay leaves
2 tb Fresh rosemary; chopped -OR-
2 ts Dried rosemary
2 tb Fresh thyme; chopped -OR-
2 ts Dried thyme
2 tb Fresh sage; chopped -OR-
2 ts Dried sage
1 ds Turmeric (optional)
1 md Lemon; zest and juice
Salt & fresh ground pepper
1 tb Fresh parsley
2 tb Corn starch; whisked with:
1/4 c Stock
MMMMM-------------------------DUMPLINGS------------------------------
2 c Flour
2 ts Baking powder
1 ts Sugar
1 ts Salt
4 tb Butter; melted, cooled
1 1/2 c Buttermilk or heavy cream
Begin by sauteing the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery in oil.
Add some salt to season the vegetables and help them develop a
sheen as they soften. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 to
10 minutes.
When the vegetables have softened, add the chicken meat and
continue to cook for 3 to 5 minutes, seasoning with additional salt
and a few grinds of black pepper.
Add 6 to 7 cups of the stock, reserving the rest so that you can
add as needed-you want to keep a good amount of liquid in this stew
so that you can drop in your dumplings and have them cook
completely near the finish. Let it all come to a boil and reduce it
to a low, steady simmer. You need to maintain this simmer
throughout, but you don't want it to boil again.
Add your bay leaves, herbs, turmeric, lemon zest, and juice.
Continue cooking for about an hour to an hour and a half at this
steady but low (3 bubble) simmer.
When your stew is nearly finished, prepare your dumpling dough as
follows: whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Add the melted, cooled butter to the buttermilk or cream, whisking
to combine and then adding the liquid to the dry ingredients. Work
this together with a fork or your hands until you get a sticky dough.
Roll the chilled dough into little balls-makes a lot so you will
probably have about 18 to 20 dough balls.
Now, taste-test; check the tenderness of the chicken meat and
adjust seasoning as necessary. Remove the bay leaves and add the
slurry, stirring constantly until your thickener is completely
incorporated into your stew. Once the broth of the stew has
thickened a little, you can add your dumpling dough by dropping
them into the steadily simmering stock. It is very important to
have that steady simmer going, or the dough balls will not cook
properly. The dumplings take about 12 minutes to plump and cook
through.
Add a sprinkle of fresh parsley and serve immediately.
