Chicken & Dumplings Casserole

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 brown onion + 2 garlic cloves
• 3 carrots (about 100 g each)
• 2 celery sticks (about 100 g)
• 150 g frozen peas
• 220 g plain flour (40 g for the sauce, 180 g for the dumplings)
• 45 g unsalted butter (20 g for the sauce, 25 g melted for the dumplings) + 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 260 ml semi-skimmed milk (100 ml for the sauce, 160 ml for the dumplings)
• 2 chicken stock cubes + 800 ml hot water
• 2 tsp baking powder (8 g)
• 1 tsp dried thyme + 1 bay leaf
• 10 g fresh parsley (5 g for the dumplings, 5 g to serve)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Casserole pot with lid (24 cm)
• Mixing bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Fork

📖 Steps

1. Cut the chicken into 3 cm pieces. Slice the onion, peel the carrots and cut them into 5 mm rounds, cut the celery into 1 cm pieces, chop the garlic and finely chop the parsley. Dissolve the stock cubes in 800 ml hot water.
2. Heat the oil in the casserole pot over a medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and brown it for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until coloured on all sides: it will finish cooking in the stock. Set aside on a plate.
3. Reduce to a medium heat, melt 20 g butter in the pot and sauté the onion, carrots and celery for 6 minutes, stirring, until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
4. Sprinkle 40 g flour over the vegetables and stir for 1 minute. Pour in the stock gradually, scraping the bottom with the wooden spoon to avoid lumps, then add 100 ml milk, the thyme, bay leaf and chicken. Simmer gently for 15 minutes over a low heat.
5. While it simmers, melt 25 g butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. In a mixing bowl, combine 180 g flour, the baking powder, 1 pinch of salt and 5 g parsley. Add 160 ml milk and the melted butter, then mix briefly with a fork into a thick, sticky dough.
6. Add the frozen peas to the pot, remove the bay leaf, taste and adjust the salt and pepper. The stew should simmer gently, not boil hard, or the dumplings will fall apart as they cook.
7. Drop the dough onto the surface of the stew in 12 small, well-spaced spoonfuls, as they double in size. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over a low heat without ever lifting the lid: the steam must stay in the pot for the dumplings to puff up.
8. Check they are cooked by cutting a dumpling in half: the inside should be fluffy with no raw dough. Sprinkle with the rest of the parsley and serve straight away in shallow bowls, 3 dumplings and a ladleful of stew per person.