It's A Cold And Rainy Afternoon ... Chicken and Dumplings!

Recipe and directions to follow ... : )

Enjoy!

 Updated:
The reason I posted the pic above yesterday was that I was feeling pretty darned pleased with myself.  I DID cook the chicken and dumpling in a cast iron skillet in my fireplace!

For those who have asked, here's the recipe.  You'll have to wait until I make it again for a photo of the finished dish.

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Stew:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 cup sliced carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 cup diced red potatoes
1 mixed herb blob
2 tablespoons butter, softened at room temperature
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup sliced mushrooms (I used Chanterelles this time)
2 cups cooked chicken meat, coarsely chopped

Saute the onion, carrot and celery in the olive oil in a heavy pan until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 more minute.  Add the broth, the potatoes and the herb blob and cook over medium high heat  until the potatoes are done, about 15 minutes.  Mix the butter and flour together to form a paste (a beurre manie) and stir it into the broth mixture to thicken the stew.  Add the chicken and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes.

For the Dumplings:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter or shortening
1/2 cup cold water
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Cut in butter (or shortening) with a fork or a pastry blender. Add the water and the parsley and stir until it just sticks together.

Drop large spoonfuls of the dumpling mix onto the top of the hot chicken stew.  Cover the pot and cook for about 30 minutes over medium heat until the dumplings are cooked through.

For the fireplace version:  Get a good bed of coals going in the fireplace.  Set 2 fire bricks into the coals (carefully!  I wore welder's gloves while doing this) about 8 inches apart.  Use a heavy cast iron pot or covered skillet. I did the step of sauteing the vegetables on  my stove top, added the broth and potatoes and placed the covered skillet on the fire bricks for about 20 minutes. I removed the skillet from the hearth (again, wearing welder's gloves), stirred in the rest of the stew ingredients and replaced the skillet on in the fireplace for about 10 more minutes.  I removed the skillet (don't forget the welder's gloves) and then built the fire up again and let it die down until I had another good bed of coals and then added the dumpling mix and returned the skillet to the hearth for about 30 minutes.  The dumplings actually browned a little bit and were perfect!

Enjoy!