Simple ingredients recall a childhood favorite, even without the brown butter finish

What drove me to learn how to cook, reliably combining ingredients and technique into satisfaction, was hunger for dishes out of reach. 

I learned how to barbecue spare ribs because I couldn’t afford to drive to Redbone’s, in Somerville, Mass., to feed my need. 

Another inspiration was the memory of dishes I wanted to enjoy again. One Sunday, pondering what to make for family dinner, I settled on chicken and dumplings, inspired by a dimly remembered celebratory supper served by my mother decades ago. Chicken and vegetables in broth was what I wanted, topped with buttery, chewy dumplings that add body to the proceedings.

Years of experiments and refinements, and an assist from Joy of Cooking, resulted in the largely foolproof recipe here. May it fill your needs for a Sunday supper soon.

Chicken stew with dumplings 

3-4 pounds chicken pieces, preferably bone in legs and thighs, or boneless skinless chicken thighs, not breast

3-4 carrots

3 ribs celery

2 onions chopped  

2-3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

2-3 teaspoons dried oregano

Salt and pepper

Fish sauce, lemon, or lime juice, for finishing (optional)

For the dumplings:

1 ½ cups flour 

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

2 eggs

½ cup milk (water will do)

4 tablespoons butter, for finishing

To thicken: (optional)

2 tablespoons corn starch

2 tablespoons water

Put the chicken and garlic in a big pot. Cover it with water. Add 2 teaspoons of salt, and bring it to a boil, then back it down to a simmer, and let it cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the chicken is nice and soft, add the vegetables. Add more water, so it’s at least an inch above everything else. Simmer until the vegetables are almost as tender as you like them. 

Meanwhile, stir together the dumplings. (This is actually the spaetzle dough recipe from Joy of Cooking, repurposed.)

Using a spoon and a finger, drop quarter-sized globs of dough to cover the top of the simmering liquid.

Put a lid on the pot, and let it bubble away for 10 to 12 minutes, until the dumplings are puffy and firm. Remove with slotted spoon into a skillet with melted butter in it. Repeat with the rest of the dough, until the dumplings are finished.  

You can brown the dumplings by cooking them in a sauté pan with butter. Usually I have a pan collecting dumplings and browning them until all the dumplings are ready to serve. But they’re fine right from the pot.

Taste the broth. If you want, add more salt, pepper, fish sauce, or lemon or lime juice.

If you’d like the broth more clingy, glossy, gravylike, stir up some cornstarch slurry. Mix cornstarch to water at a 1:1 ratio until milky and well combined. Drop it into the simmering broth and in a couple minutes, it’ll tighten up.

Usually I serve dumplings separately, so people can take as many as they want.

#30#