Ingredients
Chicken and Stock:
- 1 (3 to 31/2 pound) whole organic chicken
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 4 to 5 black peppercorns
- 1 head garlic, split through the equator
- 2 tablespoons salt
Directions
Buttermilk-Chive Dumplings:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup chopped chives
- 3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen pearl onions
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish
- Chopped chives, for garnish
For the stock:
Place the chicken and all stock ingredients in a large Dutch oven and cover with water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour until the chicken is tender. Skim the surface of fat and scum as it cooks.
When done remove the chicken to a cutting board. Strain the stock and shred the meat into big pieces - the stock will be used for the sauce and the chicken will be folded into it.
For the dumplings:
Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat the eggs, chives and buttermilk together; pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold. Mix just until the dough comes together; the batter should be thick and cake-like.
To prepare sauce: In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Add the carrot, celery, garlic, and bay leaves and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Continue to stir and cook for 2 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Slowly pour in the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add frozen peas and pearl onions.
Let sauce simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Stir in heavy cream.
Fold the reserved shredded chicken into the sauce and bring up to a simmer. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dumpling batter into the hot mixture. The dumplings should cover the top of the sauce, but should not be touching or crowded. Let the dumplings poach for 10 to 15 minutes until they are firm and puffy. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season with freshly cracked black pepper and garnish with chopped chives before serving.
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By berrylynn22
Grand Haven
on May 13, 2013
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I've been making this recipe for years now. As with anything I make, I season to taste. One thing is for sure, as I learned my very 1st time making this is you should make your roux 1st with an entire stick of butter and about the same amount of flour or maybe a little less, then slowly add your home made stock while whisking. Once you have all of your stock incorporated, add celery and then carrots. I don't use onions since I really don't care for the texture. After the celery and carrots start to get tender, add the chicken, then the cream, then the peas and finally top it off with your dumplings. By the time your dumplings are done, your vegetables will be perfectly done, not mushy, just perfect. Also, I do like to cut the veg somewhat large.
TIP: make your stock the day before, after straining a few times, store in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, simply scrape that top layer of fat off... who needs it anyway? (especially after I added that entire stick of butter :
By Crue2001
on April 28, 2013
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Nice flavors, but here are the problems with this recipe...in my opinion:
1 Salt - 2 TABLESPOONS was excessive! Too salty by a lot!
2 Frozen Peas & Onions - They do not need to be added so early in the cooking process. By the time I was ready to add the heavy cream, the broth was starting to taste like peas, not chicken. I ended up scooping out all the veggies and finishing the broth & dumplings without them.
3 After all is said and done this doesn't make much, so if you're feeding a large family/crowd, double the recipe.
I'll make this again for flavor, but I'll definitely reduce the salt, double the rest of the recipe, add the frozen veggies at the end, and possibly do smaller drop dumplings.
By erikaj6
on April 21, 2013
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Difficult to make. Took a LOT of time. Broth wouldn't thicken. Will not make this again.
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