Wassa matter, Colonel Sanders? Chicken?
Regular Monday Magic at my place last night and as usual I cooked. As promised, I pulled out the much awaited chicken stew and Parsley dumplings recipe. It was a night of firsts, really. It was the first time I'd done a stew (but not eaten) as well as the first time I'd cooked and eaten dumplings. By all accounts, it was well received. Among 5 of us, there were 8 helpings and 4 leftovers. I managed to give away one, and eat one and am down to two.
I also learned a lot in cooking this stew, not the least of which was how to bone a chicken thigh.
Boning a chicken thigh
To do bone a thigh, you need to turn it skin side down and find the bone. There should be only one bone, assuming you're just working with a thigh. Cut along and around the bone to remove the meat. Then cut around the joints at the end, and you should be left with most of a thigh. Remove skin and excess fat, and you have one boneless and skinnless chicken thigh for 1/4 of the cost.
Boning a chicken breast
The breast is even easier than the thigh. Find the wishbone at the top of the breast. It's in the thick part of the meat. Cut the meat along the wishbone and along the centre breast bone. If top part of the breast is pretty loose, you should then just pull the meat away from you, and be left with the bone, and the filet which you can cut away.
I'll never buy boneless/skinless again.
Making a stew
I made some good and bad decisions when making the stew. First, I used the low sodium chicken stock. However, I negated that by having to add in a fair bit of salt. Second, I used too many potatoes. One less large potato would have been much better, I think. A stew is all about proportions. This would have been better for the dumplings at the end, since they did a wonderful job of thickening things.
Finally, the dumplings exceeded all of my expectations. They were light, flavourful and not at all doughy. Rather, it seemed that they were a natural part of the stew.
Parsley Dumplings
1 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 c buttermilk
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
small clove chopped garlic
Mix all ingredients together, and drop them in teaspoon sized portions into the stew. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Personally, I just run my garlic over the small part of my cheese grater and it turns out perfectly.
The results... well, you can see for yourself.
It tastes better than it looks.
I also learned a lot in cooking this stew, not the least of which was how to bone a chicken thigh.
Boning a chicken thigh
To do bone a thigh, you need to turn it skin side down and find the bone. There should be only one bone, assuming you're just working with a thigh. Cut along and around the bone to remove the meat. Then cut around the joints at the end, and you should be left with most of a thigh. Remove skin and excess fat, and you have one boneless and skinnless chicken thigh for 1/4 of the cost.
Boning a chicken breast
The breast is even easier than the thigh. Find the wishbone at the top of the breast. It's in the thick part of the meat. Cut the meat along the wishbone and along the centre breast bone. If top part of the breast is pretty loose, you should then just pull the meat away from you, and be left with the bone, and the filet which you can cut away.
I'll never buy boneless/skinless again.
Making a stew
I made some good and bad decisions when making the stew. First, I used the low sodium chicken stock. However, I negated that by having to add in a fair bit of salt. Second, I used too many potatoes. One less large potato would have been much better, I think. A stew is all about proportions. This would have been better for the dumplings at the end, since they did a wonderful job of thickening things.
Finally, the dumplings exceeded all of my expectations. They were light, flavourful and not at all doughy. Rather, it seemed that they were a natural part of the stew.
Parsley Dumplings
1 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 c buttermilk
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
small clove chopped garlic
Mix all ingredients together, and drop them in teaspoon sized portions into the stew. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Personally, I just run my garlic over the small part of my cheese grater and it turns out perfectly.
The results... well, you can see for yourself.
It tastes better than it looks.
Labels: Recipe - Breads, Recipe - Chicken, Recipe - Main
posted by Serdic at 19:37
9 Comments:
If you're looking for homes for that chicken stew, I'll happily take another serving :)
Sold! I'll bring it in tomorrow!
Wait, wait. Drat. I lost chicken stew to a Nail? ;) Sounds great Serd. One question ... where's the stew recipe? I am going to keep that dumpling one - will be perfect for all that leftover Thanksgiving turkey ... to make stew with! hehe
Cheers!
For the stew, I should have used the following:
2.25 lbs chicken
7 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
1 whole turnip, diced
5 medium potatoes diced
1 onion
2 c green giant frozen veggies
3 cloves garlic, chopped
half oz of chopped fresh thyme
salt and pepper
1) Dredge the chicken in flour and cook till golden.
2) Take half the onion, and slice it very thinly, as well as 1/6 of the turnip, chopped thinly. Sautee these for a couple of minutes.
3) Add onion, turnip, chicken, 5 cups of stock, 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.
4) Add spices, garlic, salt and pepper and reduce to a simmer.
5) 55 min prior to serving, add remainder of turnip
6) 40 min prior add potato and veggies.
7) 10 minutes prior, add in the dumplings.
As you simmer the stew, you can add stock as you think you need it.
Also note, this is double the original recipe.
Thanks Serd! :)
That looks good!!
OK, now send a recipe for chili! :)
Talk to Null for that one. He makes a mean Texas Chilli!
Well, you'll have to spell my name right for that to happen. =)
It's Serdic, not Sedric.
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