Making chicken and dumplings - Gluten-free

Chicken and Dumplings is one of those meals that my mom made that I still remember to this day. A busy working mom, many of our family dinners involved hamburger helper. There are four seemingly homemade dishes that my mother made that I remember to this day. I say seemingly, because it turns out that she used things like Heinz Ketchup, Bisquick mix, and cans of soup to achieve most of the magical dishes. My maternal favorites are Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Cacciatore, Meatball soup, and Chicken Dumplings.

My mother doesn't really like to cook. It's a miracle that I have these fond memories. When her children left high school, she proudly declared that she was done cooking. As such, she tossed most of her recipes so she simply lost touch with them.

I'm in the process of making chicken and dumplings. In this case, my dumplings will be gluten-free, but finding a wheat based dumplings recipe would be horribly simple. Like the Paella recipe, I used a number of recipes for this dish before selecting the best one for me.

Recipes in my adaptation

• Martha Stewart's Chicken and Dumplings
• Smitten Kitchen's version
• Nourished kitchen's recipe is gluten-free and makes it's own broth
• Big Sis Little Dish is the version for my broth
• Opera girls gluten-free dumplings. I like the flours she uses.

Soup Ingredients

• 5 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken (I like breasts and legs) 
• 1 medium onion, chopped (I use the frozen ones)
• Table salt and ground black pepper 
• 4 T unsalted butter (1/2 stick) 
• 2 medium leeks , white and light green parts only, cut in half lengthwise then slice thin
• 4 T arrow root powder
• 1/4 C dry white wine 
• 5 medium carrots, sliced
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 1/4 C whole milk 
• 1 t minced fresh thyme leaves 
• 1 t chopped dill

1. Rinse the chicken pieces and place the chicken in to a large pot with 5 cups of water. 
2. Bring to a boil. 
3. Chop or slice carrots, onion, leeks, and celery. 
4. Once the water is boiling add in the onion celery, and half the carrots.
5. Let the chicken simmer until it is tender about 45 min.
6. Place a strainer over a large bowl. When the chicken is done, pour the contents of the pot through the strainer.
7. Remove the chicken to a plate to cool and discard the veggie pulp.
8. Add butter to a Dutch Oven and melt over medium-high
9. Toss in the leeks and season with salt. Cook until tender. About 7 minutes.
10. Have your white wine sitting nearby and stir in the arrow root powder. 
11. Then whisk in the wine and scrap up the yummy brown bits on bottom. 
12. Add in the broth, milk, and any remaining herbs.
13. Add in carrots. (If you like cooked celery add some of that as well).
14. Reduce hear to medium let the sauce warm while you tear the chicken from the bone.
15. Season broth with salt and pepper and mix the dumplings.

Let's talk dumplings. I wasn't about to go out and buy even more flours. I have so many already that I have trouble storing them, so I had to go my own way on this a bit. I also do not plan ahead enough to let dumpling dough sit for 8 hours. Crazy town.

Dumpling Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (68g) oat flour 
• 1/4 cup (33g) sorghum flour 
• 1/4 cup (25g) glutinous rice flour
• 2 T (20g) teff flour 
• 2 T (15g) tapioca flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt 
• 1/4 cup finely minced fresh herbs (I like dill and chives)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (I use the powdered kind and add water. What a great idea.)
• 1 egg, beaten 
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted 

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir.
2. In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients. If you are using powdered buttermilk, as I do, remember to add the powder in step 1 and the water in step 2.
3. Make a well in the dry stuff and pour in the wet. 
4. Whisk.
5. Toss in the chicken back in.
6. Using two spoons create golf ball size pieces of dumpling dough on one spoon. Use the 2nd spoon to slide the batter onto the broth surface. 
7. Put the lid on let them cook undisturbed for 20 minutes.
8. Serve!