Soothing Chicken & Dumpling Soup by Chef Corey

As a chef who’s in love with all type of soups, it’s fair to say I have a lot of favorites; so it would also be fair to say it's difficult to narrow down the field of soups to just one. 
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From a cool, chilled bowl of gazpacho on a hot August night to a steamy, cozy bowl of chicken dumpling soup on a bone chilling January night. 

Chicken and dumpling soup, a thick, savory bowl of rich chicken soup, a bold and complex layer of flavors, vegetables and herbs, simmered in a creamy broth flecked with dumplings is just the thing to bring the feeling back to the chilled body.
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The wonderful thing about this kind of soup is that it can be just as easy as 1,2,3 and then, with time and experience, you can take this soup to all different kinds of levels. 

The first thing we need to do is season the chicken, I like to use thighs because they have more flavor. Then we sear them. This is the beginning of layering the flavors. Don’t cook the chicken all the way through we just want to get a nice sear, it will finish cooking through later. 

Next sauté the vegetables, you can add all the vegetables together and cook till tender, though I like to start with the harder vegetables first, then remove them and add the next softer vegetables. Onions, leeks, and garlic will be next as they are the most tender and will burn the fastest. 

When the last of the vegetables have cooked through, there should be a a generous amount of FOND “the brown and caramelized bits on the bottom of the ban.” This is the essence of all flavor. This is what we have worked so hard to make and we didn’t even know it. It might seem burnt but if we controlled the heat right during the cooking process its about to become our best friend. 

At this point add all the vegetables back to the pot, cut the reserved chicken into bitesized pieces and then add to the pot as well. Melt in three tablespoons of butter and then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over and mix in, we will want to cook out the raw four flavor this will take about 5 minutes during the cooking out time we will also get some nice color from the flour browning. 

At this point add in the chicken stock or broth and mix well bring the mixture up to a boil and then reduce the heat.

For the dumplings the recipe is super simple, scaled buttermilk on the stove and place in a a large mixing bowl, in a separate bowl mix the four, herbs, salt, pepper, and baking soda, then mix into the butter milk, this will be a very rough mix it will not be smooth. 

Using a scoop, scoop out portions of dough and top the chicken mixture with it, bake at 350 for 30 minutes then enjoy. 


For Chicken stew

• 2 lbs chicken thighs 
• Avocado oil
• 4 T butter 
• 1 large leek
• 1 sweet onion
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 celery ribs
• Ap flour, unbleached
• Dry sherry or cognac, a good splash 
• 4 cups good bone broth 
• 1 cup good heavy cream ( if you don’t have sour cream works well, just add 1/4 cup water or light milk to thin) 
• Thyme
• Cumin
• Smoked paprika
• marjoram 
• oregano
• salt 
• pepper

For the dumplings 

• 1.5 cups AP flour 
• 1 T baking powder
• Salt
• 1 c milk, whole
• 2 T butter
• Fresh herbs your choice