Chicken and Dumplings: Comfort on a Cold, Rainy Day

Posted by Somer on April 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are doomed to live through many cold, rainy and gray days.  After about the fifth gray day in a row, one can feel the blues starting to set in;  that’s when I turn to a comfort food.

I classify a comfort food as something that tastes like home.  Whether my mother made it for me as a child or not, it has to have “Mother’s Love” all over it.  Since I am originally from the East coast below the Mason-Dixon Line, I tend to find Southern comfort foods right up my alley.

I love Chicken and Dumplings.  My mother made it a handful of times when I was a child, but I always loved it.  It’s thick, rich and loaded with chicken flavor.  And the greatest thing about it is that I always have the necessary ingredients on hand to make it any time.

Some people find the dish a little intimidating.  The dumplings can be a little tricky, but stick with me kids!  I’ll teach you the ways of the dumpling.

The first step is to chop 1 large onion and about 6 cloves of garlic.  I know you’re screaming at your computer screen right now about the amount of garlic I’ve used, but trust me.  The broth of this dish can be very bland and we need to really make sure it is fragrant and well flavored.  If you aren’t a huge fan of garlic, by all means, cut it back to 2 cloves.

Now, in a dutch oven, heat 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over Medium heat.  When hot, add the onions first and saute until tender and translucent.  This will take about 4-5 minutes so while the onions are cooking, cut three boneless skinless chicken breasts into bit-sized pieces and set aside.

When the onions are cooked add the garlic and saute for only a minute or two.  You will know  when the garlic is hot because you will SMELL it (with 6 cloves, you’d better smell it!).  Add the chicken pieces and stir in.

Now add 1 cup of milk and about 6-8 cups of chicken stock (use stock instead of broth for a better chicken taste).  I make my own stock and always have some in the freezer, but there are brands at the supermarket that are fine; although homemade really is best.

Now that all the liquid is in the pot and making it’s way to a simmer (still over Medium or Med-High heat), you need to contemplate spices.  Add about 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 Tablespoon of dried sage and about 1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce.

The sage and Tabasco just add some kickass taste to this dish.  As I said before, this dish can very easily taste bland.  The sage adds this cozy, fragrant taste to the broth.  The Tabasco really can’t be detected except for that warm feeling in your throat as you eat the dish.  I always put either hot sauce or cayenne pepper in creamy soups, sauces or gravies because of that heat in the back of the throat.  It’s comforting.

While your broth is getting hot and building to a simmer, prepare your favorite biscuit or dumpling dough.  I’ve even seen people take the prepared biscuits in the can and cut them up and use them as dumplings.  All that matters here is that your liquid is in a rolling simmer before you start dropping the dough in.  Once the dough is in, DO NOT STIR!  Put a lid on it, set a timer for 15 minutes and do not, I repeat, DO NOT remove that lid to peek.  The steam inside of that pot will make those dumplings puff into soft and gooey love.  Just maintain a simmer or low boil in the liquid during the cooking process.

When the 15 minutes has passed, lift the lid and notice how your broth has gotten thick and creamy thanks to the partial breakdown of the dumplings as they cooked.  At this point, the dish is ready to eat!

I like to serve mine in a small bowl on the side of a plate of mashed potatoes and sauteed greens.  That way you can pick the dumplings and chicken pieces out of the dish and then dump the creamy broth over the mashed potatoes like gravy.  My husband and I were practically licking our plates after this meal and were thrilled to see that there were going to be leftovers.  This dish makes fantastic leftovers!