QUING Parties at the Palace with CHICKEN-n-DUMPLINGS

I know what you're thinking: Quing Pleases the Peasants with Chicken and Dumplings is more apropos.  You're right!

January is official comfort food time. For a weeknight family dinner- or for a 'relaxed' company all-in-one yumfest, Chicken and Dumplings is the way to go. This stew is a variation on Ina Garten's Chicken Stew and Biscuits recipe. It has less butter and more veggies. I switched up biscuits with dumplings because they are quicker and easier to make, and I added a smidge of sour cream and chives to give it some tang. Prep time is about as long as it takes the chicken to roast. Add the baking time for the stew and dumplings, and  the dish is on the table-ready to comfort and delight- in an hour and a half. 

Once you've made the stew a few times, you'll want to toss in whatever vegetables you happen to have in the fridge- cauliflower, green beans, asparagus. It's a great way to get kids to eat their veggies. My kids whoot every time I tell them we're having Chicken and Dumplings for dinner. Hope yours will, too. GUSTARE!

Chicken-n-Dumplings
  

Stew Ingredients for Eight Servings:

• 6 split chicken breasts, bone in/skin on
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups chicken stock, plus drippings from roasted chicken
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onions (1 onion)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup half-n-half or heavy cream
• 1/4 sour cream
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots (4 carrots), blanched for 4 minutes
• 1 cup celery medium-diced, blanched for 2 minutes
• 1 10-ounce package frozen peas (2 cups)
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces  
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Dumplings:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives or 1TBL dried chives
• 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub each breast with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes or until cooked through.

While chicken is roasting, heat the chicken stock in a small pot, dissolving the bouillon cubes in the stock. Bring to a simmer and add chopped vegetables to blanch. Using a slotted spoon, separate vegetables from stock once blanched.

In a large pot or dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Heat olive oil and onions with melted butter, and sauté the onions for 10-12 minutes. Whisk in flour, then cook on low heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Whisk the hot chicken stock into the onion/flour mixture, and simmer over low heat for 1  minute, stirring until thick. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Whisk the heavy cream and sour cream with drippings from the roasted chicken and add to sauce, stirring to incorporate.

Once roasted chicken is cool enough to touch, discard the skin, remove the meat from the bones and dice chicken into bite size pieces. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, celery, peas, broccoli and parsley to the pot and mix well. Pour the stew into a 10 x 13 x 2-inch oval or rectangular baking dish, and place the baking dish on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or foil. Bake for 15 minutes, while you prepare the dumplings.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a medium sized bowl. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut butter into the flour mixture until it is the size of peas. Stir in milk and chives to make a soft dough.

Remove the stew from the oven after 15 minutes. Drop spoonfuls of dumpling dough over simmering stew. Brush with egg wash-if you want the dumplings to be golden brown gorgeous-and return the dish to the oven. 

Bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until the dumplings are light brown and the stew is bubbly.

Note: To speed up prep time, dice chicken from 2 rotisserie chickens- rather than roasting your own chicken breasts. Be sure to add the chicken drippings to the sauce.