Chicken and Dumpling Stew with Herbs

• 2 tbspolive oil
• 700gboneless skinless chicken thighs, halved
• 1onion, chopped
• 3carrots, cut into chunks
• 2leeks, trimmed, washed and thickly sliced
• 2celery sticks, sliced
• 2garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbspplain flour
• 900mlchicken stock
• 2 tspdried thyme
• 2bay leaves
• 200gfrozen peas
• fine salt
• black pepper
• 150gself-raising flour
• 50gcold butter, grated
• 20gparsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 tspfine salt
• 90mlwhole milk

Method

1. 1Heat the olive oil in a large lidded casserole over a medium-high heat. Season the chicken and brown for 5 minutes, turning once. Add the onion, carrots, leeks, celery and garlic with a pinch of salt and cook for 8 minutes until the leeks have softened.
2. 2Stir in the plain flour for a minute, then gradually add the stock, stirring. Add the thyme and bay, season with a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper, and simmer with the lid half on for 25 minutes until the chicken is tender and the broth has thickened slightly.
3. 3While it simmers, make the dumplings. Mix the self-raising flour, grated butter, parsley and half teaspoon of salt with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the milk and bring together into a soft dough with as little handling as you can; overworked dumplings are heavy. Divide into 8 balls.
4. 4Stir the peas into the stew, then sit the dumplings on top of the liquid, spaced apart. Put the lid on and simmer gently for 15 to 18 minutes without lifting the lid until the dumplings have doubled in size and are light and cooked through when you break one open.
5. 5Remove the bay leaves. Serve in deep bowls with two dumplings each and plenty of the broth and vegetables.

Per serving

kcal

653

protein

46.4g

fibre

9.4g

carbs

56g

fat

26.9g