Recipe: Chicken & Dumplings

Pathmark tends to have kale, mustard greens, collards, and the like on sale for 79¢ per pound.

When that happens I usually buy a bunch of kale to make this dish that is perfect on a cold Winter's Day or cool Spring Evening. I just bought chicken thighs for 95¢ per pound and it's perfect to make this dish. Dark meat has more flavor and hold up well to stewing than white meat which toughens up. This recipe will serve 2.

Ingredients

For the Chicken Stew:

1 pound chicken legs or thighs or mixed

3 cups chicken broth (fresh or low sodium canned)

1 bay leaf

1 celery rib sliced crosswise into 1/4" pieces

2 medium carrots peeled and sliced into 1" pieces on the diagonal

4 small onions skins removed and cut in half (or you can also use 2 cups frozen pearl onions)

2 springs of fresh thyme

1 cup packed of coarsely chopped kale leaves

Salt and fresh ground pepper

For the Cornmeal Dumplings:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1/3 cup milk

Directions

For the stew:

1. In a large saucepan, combine the chicken pieces, broth, and bay leaf and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Skim the broth of fat that floats at the surface with a spoon. Stir in the celery, carrots, onions, and thyme springs. Cover pot slightly and allow to simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Stir in the chopped kale and season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the dumplings:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. With your fingertips, work the butter pieces into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in milk until blended.
2. Drop tablespoons of dumpling bater in 8 clumps over the top of the stew. Reduce the heat to low and cover allowing the dumplings to steam and cook through for about 10 minutes.
3. Discard the bay leaf and thyme springs before serving.