Chef Johns Chicken And Dumplings Recipes

Steps:

• Place chicken in large (9-quart) stock pot, pour in water, and drop in bay leaf and single clove. Bring to simmer over medium-low heat. As foam rises to the top of the broth, skim and discard with a ladle. Add peeled garlic cloves, cover pot, and simmer on low for 1 hour.
• Remove chicken from pot, and allow to cool for a few minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove all meat from the bones, and set the chicken meat aside. Pour stock into a bowl and set aside.
• In a large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter, and cook and stir carrots, celery, onion, and mushrooms until the vegetables start to become tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper and paprika. Mix in flour, stirring to coat vegetables with flour, about 5 minutes. Add half of reserved stock, and stir with the vegetables and flour to form a very thick sauce. Stir in remaining stock until sauce is smooth; reduce heat to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Stir milk into the sauce, and gently mix in the reserved chicken meat, herbes de Provence, tarragon, and rosemary. Bring stew back to a simmer, and cook for 10 more minutes. Pop open the can of biscuits, separate, and place biscuits on top of stew.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the biscuits are golden brown and the stew is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Place lid on the pot or Dutch oven, and return to oven; bake until biscuits are cooked through, about 15 more minutes. Test biscuits for doneness by pulling apart a biscuit near the middle of the stew to see if it's cooked through.

Steps:

• Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches if needed, sear chicken, skin-side down, until deeply golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Flip chicken and continue to cook until it is browned on the other side, another 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer chicken to a large plate, and pour off all fat into a measuring cup. (You should have about 5 tablespoons, depending on the fattiness of the chicken.)
• Leaving all the browned bits in the pot, return 2 tablespoons of fat to the pot. Add onions, celery and half the carrots. Season with salt and pepper and cook on medium heat, stirring to scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pot. Cook until vegetables start to soften, about 4 minutes or so. Return chicken to the pot along with thyme and 8 cups of water. Simmer, uncovered, until chicken is completely tender and liquid has reduced by about 1/4, about 30 to 40 minutes.
• Transfer chicken to a plate or cutting board to cool. Strain the stock (you should have about 5 cups; if you have less, you can add water to make up the difference) and wipe out the pot.
• Heat remaining 3 tablespoons chicken fat along with 1 tablespoon butter (if you don't have enough chicken fat, use enough butter to equal 4 tablespoons of fat) over medium heat. Sprinkle in flour and stir constantly until it's all a pale golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Slowly whisk in reserved chicken stock until no lumps remain (it will thicken considerably at first) and bring to a boil. Add leeks and remaining carrots, season with salt and pepper and lower the heat to simmer.
• Remove and discard the skin and bones from the chicken. Shred the meat and add to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is nicely thickened and carrots and leeks are tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Make the dumplings: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg and add to dry ingredients, followed by melted butter. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir just to combine. (Do not overmix.)
• Using a spoon, drop generous quarter-size dollops of the dumpling dough into the pot (they should just sit right on top; they will not sink), spacing them apart as much as possible (it's O.K. if they touch). Cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Cook, undisturbed, until the dumplings are puffed and totally cooked through, 18 to 22 minutes. (Test a dumpling by cutting it in half; it should look slightly biscuity, but with no raw bits of dough. If it needs more time, continue to cook.)
• Remove lid and divide among bowls; sprinkle with parsley and chives, if using.