Chicken casserole with herby dumplings

Contains pork – recipe is for non-Muslims only
Bypass the suet and make lighter dumplings for this family-friendly one-pot stew

Prep:30 mins
Cook:1 hrs 10 mins

Serves 6
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 744
fat 38.3g
saturates 17.3g
carbs 43.9g
sugars 6.6g
fibre 4.3g
protein 34.9g
salt 3g

Ingredients

12 skinless chicken pieces - a mixture of thighs and drumsticks on the bone, and halved chicken breasts
3 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, diced
200g bacon lardons, smoked or unsmoked, or streaky rashers, snipped
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs thyme
bottle of cheap red wine
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 chicken stock cube
140g cold butter, diced
250g self-raising flour
2 tbsp chopped mixed herbs - try parsley, thyme and sage or chives

Tip

If you want to use a slow cooker...
Use boneless chicken pieces as the meat becomes very tender and can leave chunks of stew in the stew. Flour the chicken as above. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken in batches, followed by the lardons and onions. Transfer everything to the slow cooker along with the rest of the stew ingredients. Cover and cook on High for 4 hours. Make the dumplings as above and sit on top of the stew, cook for a further hour, then serve.

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Toss the chicken pieces with the flour and some salt and pepper, to coat them – it’s easy to do this in a plastic food bag.
Heat the oil in a casserole with a lid. Brown the chicken pieces well on all sides – you’ll need to do this in batches. Remove all the pieces to a plate, and tip the onions, carrot, lardons, bay and thyme into the pan. Cook gently for 10 mins until the onion is softened.
Return the chicken pieces, with any juices that have collected on the plate. Then pour in the red wine and tomato paste and crumble in the stock cube. Add a splash of water if you need, until the chicken is almost covered. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and bake in the oven for 20 mins. Remove the lid and bake for another 10 mins while you make the dumplings.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it feels like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the herbs with ½ tsp salt and some pepper. Drizzle over 150ml water, and stir in quickly with a cutlery knife to form a light dough. Use floured hands to shape into ping pong sized balls.
Place the dumplings on top of the stew and bake for 20 mins more until the dumplings are cooked through.