Cascadia Table

Where I live, it feels like it rains nine months out of the year, which means our dinner table often has soup—and more soup—for most of the year. One of our family’s favorite fall dinners is a big pot of chicken and dumplings. I love this comforting dish, but my kids absolutely adore it. Today, I even had a few little helpers in the kitchen!

This dish is incredibly versatile. You can make it as a hearty, thick stew or a light, brothy soup. We do both, and we also love to experiment with our dumplings. Sometimes we make them with flour and herbs; other times we use cornmeal. Since we’re a gluten-free household, our dumplings are always GF, and we often make them dairy-free, too. Today’s version was a delicate chicken soup with a rich, homemade stock and fluffy GF/DF cornmeal dumplings.

For the dumplings: almond milk, a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, bacon fat, and an egg.

For the soup: garlic, a bay leaf, fresh thyme, and some fresh carrots, potatoes, celery, and onion from our CSA. We’ll also be using some leftover roast chicken, our homemade chicken stock, and a handful of frozen peas.

To start, I heat up some olive oil and sauté the onion until it’s soft and see-through. Then I toss in the carrots and celery, season everything with salt and pepper, and let it all cook for about 7 to 8 minutes. Then add the garlic, fresh thyme sprigs, and a bay leaf.

Next, add your chopped and peeled potatoes, seasoning them well with salt and pepper. Stir them frequently for about five minutes, then deglaze the pot with white wine. Let the wine cook off for a few minutes before you pour in the chicken stock.

Bring the stock to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Now you can add your cooked chicken.

Quick tip: If you’re using raw, diced boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of pre-cooked chicken, add them to the pot at the same time you add the chicken stock.

While the soup simmers, make the dumplings. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients: cornmeal, gluten-free flour, baking powder, and salt. Use a fork to work in the bacon fat until the mixture is crumbly. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg into the almond milk and stir that mixture into the dry ingredients until everything is just combined. Set the dumpling dough aside.

Once the vegetables are tender, the chicken is in the pot, and the soup is at a good simmer, drop spoonfuls of the dumpling dough directly into the soup. Add the frozen peas. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover the pot, and let the dumplings cook for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are cooked through. Turn off the heat, remove the lid, and let the soup sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken and Dumplings

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups cooked chicken
• 1 onion chopped
• 2-4 carrots, chopped
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 cups chopped and peeled potatoes
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cloves garlic, copped
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 cup white wine
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup olive oil

For the Dumplings

• 1 cup GF flour blend, such as Bobs Red Mill
• 1 cup GF cornmeal
• 2/3 cup Milk or almond milk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbs bacon fat or shortening
• 1 egg

Method

 

1. Heat olive in heavy bottom pot or dutch oven. Saute onion until soft and translucent 5-7 minutes. Add celery and carrot. Season well with salt and pepper and cook another 7-8 minutes. Add garlic, bay leaf and fresh thyme.
2. Add potatoes. Season well with salt and pepper. Stir them frequently for about five minutes, then deglaze the pot with white wine. Let the wine cook off for a few minutes before you pour in the chicken stock. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook 20 minutes until veggies are tender.
3. Make dumplings: Mix dry ingredients. Blend in bacon fat with a fork until well crumbled. Mix beaten egg into the milk. Add wet ingredients and mix well.
4. Once veggies are tender add cooked chicken and bring pot back to simmer. Drop in spoonfuls of dumpling dough. Add your peas. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook 12-15 minutes until dumplings are cooked through. Turn off heat and removed lid. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.