Fall... when nature presents us with her best brocade gown.... I love this time of year more than any other. Chilly nights, brisk days, drizzle that keeps you inside cooking, a chance to sit with friends enjoying coffee and talking. Shared recipes, shared laughter, and an early darkness that makes comfort food the best thing of all.
My Mom wasn't a great cook, but there was always something easy to prepare on the stove. I remember one time when my Uncle came over out of the blue, and my younger brother and I begged Mom to make dumplings for dinner to go with the stew.... I recall my Uncle yelling at my Dad over the phone in a fake accent.... " I am beating za childrens and eating the dumplingzez..."..... still makes me laugh even after all this time. He liked his dumplings with treacle on them; warm, sticky and messy, sweet with that wonderful molasses taste. We liked ours with maple flavoured syrup, and later when I figured out there WAS such a thing as real maple syrup I went with that! However, the BEST thing on dumplings still has to be.... GRAVY!!!!
So lets start with basics. Chicken Fricasse is just a way of cooking the chicken. I use skin on/bone in cuts... whole legs, or just thighs or drumsticks - the last time I used twelve thighs with the back removed and the thigh bone still in. Basically, you take your fresh chicken pieces, season them with a little thyme, some salt and pepper, maybe a little paprika. Then dredge them with all purpose flour to coat them well. Allow them to sit for a few minutes to let the flour seal, then heat about three tablespoons of oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the pieces on one side for about 5 minutes or until well browned. Turn the chicken over and allow to "colour" on the other side. Lift the chicken out of the pan and hold aside while you brown the rest of the pieces.
Once the chicken is browned, use the oil with the flour in to lightly brown half a large onion, diced into one inch chunks along with about four stalks of celery cut into one inch slices and about four medium carrots also cut into one inch chunks. Once the vegetables have become translucent you can deglaze the pan with about a cup of chardonnay if you want, or just use chicken stock (or cheat and use boiling water and a chicken base mix). Place the vegetables on the bottom of a shallow roasting pan (I use my extra large electric skillet for this) and place the chicken pieces over top in a single layer. Add liquid (water, stock, combination of different liquids appropriate for your final flavour) and turn down to allow the chicken to simmer gentle until tender - for about 30 to 40 minutes.
At this point I carefully lift the chicken out of the broth and place it on a serving tray. I make sure I have at least one inch of liquid in the pan before mixing the dumplings. For six hungry people I use two cups of sifted flour mixed with three teaspoons of baking powder and one teaspoon of salt. I sometimes stir in about a tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs... parsley, thyme, savory... whatever I feel will enhance the flavour of the chicken.... and then I cut in a quarter cup of butter with a fork. Finally I stir in one cup of milk and mix until the dough forms a ball in the bowl. I drop the batter into the simmering liquid a spoonful at a time until all the batter has been used... so a large area pan is best! Simmer the dumplings uncovered for ten minutes, then cover the pan and allow to simmer for another ten minutes. Serve at once! The chicken will be "melt in your mouth" tender, the carrots and celery will have taken on the flavour of the herbs, and the dumplings should be light and savoury.
My favorite side dish is always green beans - especially if I have managed to freeze some from my garden! Saute them in butter straight from the freezer and serve! I guarantee you won't have leftovers! If you do, then maybe you need to add a friend or two at your table and work a little "comfort food" magic over them!
Now it's back to my kitchen to see what other magic I can stir up! Enjoy!
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