Traditional Chicken and Dumplings - Weekend Recipe

EDIT: Nothing like presetting all the monthly recipes to take care of the posting so I can lecture prep and realizing that it never happened 2 months into the process.  So if you were expecting these recipes to post during the month for your enjoyment, I am sorry.  If you want to find the recipes which have now posted, try out the links below in the theme list.

Not sure where I got this recipe.  Could be an old family recipe or one I collected when I was still living at home.  It was hand written and seems very traditional.

Chicken and Dumplings

1 Tbls olive oil

6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

kosher salt and black pepper

4 stalks celery, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

2 onions, chopped

2 Tbls fresh thyme leaves or 2 tsp dried thyme

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbls baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 Tbls (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 Tbls chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, plus more for serving

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Brown in batches, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; reserve the pot.

Add the celery, carrots, onions, thyme, and garlic to the drippings in the pot and cook, stirring, until the vegetables begin to soften, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the chicken, bay leaves, and 10 cups water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chicken is cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and transfer the chicken to a plate; let cool. Shred the chicken with 2 forks and return it to the pot (discarding the skin and bones).

Whisk together ½ cup of the flour, 2 cups of the cooking liquid, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly whisk the flour mixture back into the pot and simmer until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes.

Make the dumplings: Whisk together the remaining 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk in the butter, buttermilk, and parsley. Reduce heat to low and drop the mixture into the broth in 8 large spoonfuls. Simmer, covered, until the dumplings are firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

RECIPE THEME:

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018. 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2019 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Jan 2019 – Chicken and Dumplings (CDumpsJan)

Feb 2019 - Pasta Dishes (PastaFeb)

March 2019 - Edible Flowers (FlowerMar)

April 2019 - Cajun And Creole

May 2019 - Seafood Recipes

June 2019 - Vegetarian Dishes

July 2019 - Zucchini Recipes

August 2019 - National Mustard Day – mustard recipes

September 2019 - Quiche

October 2019 - Crock Pot meals

November 2019 - Pies

December 2019 - Mocktails