Best Chicken and Dumplings Ever

Jonathan and I made chicken and dumplings tonight. As I grew up in New York, we make the dumplings in the northern U.S. style (round and biscuit-y) in contrast with southern U.S. style (flat and noodle-y). It was undoubtedly the best rendition of the dish we’ve ever constructed.

We started with an epicurious.com recipe as our guideline but modified it significantly. Our perfected version is below. A great winter comfort dish…

Chicken and Dumplings

For the soup/stew

2 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 pounds chicken, cut into pieces
1/4 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
3 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
1 T poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Fresh parsley

For the dumplings

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
4 T Crisco
1 t sage
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk

1. In a wide, heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat the olive oil.

2. Dredge the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour, then brown them in the oil over medium heat, about 2 minutes a side. Remove and set aside.

3. Add the onion to the pot and cook for 2 minutes.

4. Add the carrots, celery, bay leaf, poultry seasoning, turmeric, salt, and pepper and cook for 8 minutes more. Use the white wine to deglaze the pan each time the vegetables start to stick. Add the garlic, butter, and flour and cook for 1-2 more minutes.

5. Stir in the broth. When the pot begins to simmer, turn down the heat to medium, and TASTE the soup/stew. Make a note of the strength of the flavor.

6. Return the chicken to the pot, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add water as needed (1-3 cups) to keep the amount of liquid and flavor the strength it was before you added the chicken back to the pot –this prevents the soup/stew from getting too salty in concentration.

7. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening until crumbly, stir in the buttermilk taking care not to over mix. Allow to stand 5-10 minutes.

8. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons into the simmering chicken. Bring back to a soft simmer, cook 10 minutes with the cover off, 10 minutes with the cover on.

10. To serve, scoop the dumplings into bowls, then cover with stew. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.

Comments

Board Game Review: Anno 1800

Whenever Martin Wallace designs a new game, I am all over it. This is because I absolutely love Brass Birmingham (another MW designed game); in fact Brass Birmingham is my #1 board game of all time. Over the years, his other games I've tried have been pretty good, but not necessarily amazing must-buys. Still, I keep trying each new release of his, searching for that next star performer. That's why I'm excited to report that Anno 1800 is, in fact, a star performer, and an amazing must-buy board game. Anno 1800 was adapted by the publisher (Kosmos) from a Ubisoft video game of the same name. In the board game, players take on the role of industrialists, charged with developing their island economies and exploring other islands. Each player begins the game with a personal industry board with trade & exploration ships, a shipyard, and industrial goods tiles printed on the board. A starting collection of workers (wooden cubes) of various types to produce the goods is a

Board Game Review: Hues and Cues

Last week we received Hues and Cues from The Op Games. We recently finished playing through Scooby-Doo Escape from the Haunted Mansion (a fantastic game in The Op Games catalogue designed by Jay Cormier, Sen-Foong Lim, and Kami Mandell that you should absolutely pick up to play with your family) and wanted to give another game from the same publisher a go. I picked Hues and Cues because I’ve been pleasantly surprised by other “test whether our minds think the same way” games such as The Mind and Wavelength. In Hues and Cues , players gather around a large central board comprised of 480 graduating colors of the rainbow surrounded by an x-y axis and scoring table. White and black (which are technically not colors) are conspicuously absent as are shades (mixtures of color + black; e.g., grey) and tints (mixtures of color + white; e.g., cream). On each player’s turn, they draw a card with four colors and the x-y axis codes of those colors depicted and they select one. They are in the

Board Game Review: Brass Birmingham

Here’s a story of a lovely lady (spoiler: it’s me) and her pride and how it has led to the discovery of the single greatest board game I have ever played. It’s probably also a good primer for other reviewers on increasing your reach. At GenCon this year, I was perusing the wares of the various booths and my eyes caught a glimpse of two beautiful game boxes. Each had crisp metallic lettering with an old world feel and artwork that radiated European class. I made my way to the booth and waited patiently to speak to to the team manning it as there were many buyers lined up to purchase the games. I didn’t know anything about the games (Brass Birmingham and Brass Lancashire), or the publisher – Roxley Game Laboratory – but I knew I wanted to review one or both of the games. Almost every board game love story I star in in can be summed up this way: I am seduced by the artwork or theme and then I stay for the right mechanics. When the lead rep spoke with me, he gently rejected my request. He