One of my favorite recipes for a cold winter day.

A few times over the past year, I had an urge to make Rosemary Chicken with Dumplings. This is one of my favorite one-pot recipes, an extremely flavorful root vegetable stew that I distinctly recall making at least once in my big dutch oven up at my vacation property in northern Arizona.

Trouble was, I couldn’t remember exactly how to make it. The few times I tried to make it from memory, the flavor fell far short of what it should taste like. I needed the recipe.

Of course, the recipe was in one of my cookbooks. And my cookbooks were still packed, waiting for my new home’s kitchen to be done.

The other day, I could resist no longer. I went to the designated book box storage place in the garage (between my truck and Honda, if you’re curious), and went through the pile of boxes. The Cookbooks box was on the bottom (of course). I dug it out, cut open the tape holding it closed, and began to go through the cookbooks.

It would have been helpful if I could remember what book it was in.

In all, it took about 20 minutes to find the recipe. I brought it inside, made a shopping list, and picked up the ingredients the next time I was in town. Earlier this week, I finally made it. Although I was tempted to put it in my crock pot, I made it on the stove instead. Since one of my Facebook friends asked, here’s my version of the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I also trim off excess fat, which Penny gets to eat for dinner with her kibbles. The original recipe called for 4 chicken quarters.
• 2 tablespoons safflower oil. I didn’t have any of that and although I usually use olive oil, I suspect that the oil I have might be somewhat rancid. So I used a tiny amount of vegetable oil.
• 2 medium leeks, cleaned and chopped. The ones I wound up with were huge.
• 2 large carrots, chopped. My local supermarket sells them loose! Don’t buy the baby carrots; they will likely turn to mush.
• 2 large parsnips, chopped. I had to tell the checkout girl what this was.
• 2 small turnips, chopped. I actually used one large one because I didn’t want to have to peel two.
• 2-1/2 cups chicken stock. I normally use canned, but this time I used chicken bouillon dissolved in boiling water.
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. Of course I had that on hand. After all, I do occasionally make bloody marys.
• 2 springs fresh rosemary. Back in Arizona, this grew in the yard. It’s on my list of houseplants for next year.
• Salt and Pepper. I omitted the salt. You can always add it later, but you can never take it away.
• 2 cups Bisquick. The original recipe called for self-rising flour and lard (of all things). This is a lot quicker and easier.
• 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary leaves. Fresh is best.
• 2/3 cup milk. I used 2%, because that’s what I have. Skim or whole would work, too. Heck, water would probably even work; that’s what the original recipe called for.

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or stew pot and fry the chicken until golden brown all over. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Drain off any fat left in the pan.
2. Add the leeks, carrots, parsnips, and turnips to the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes, until lightly colored.

3. 
   Here’s what it might look like right after putting all of the ingredients in the pan.

   Return the chicken to the pan.

4. Add the chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary sprigs, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 50-60 minutes, or until the chicken and vegetables are fully cooked.
6. In a bowl, mix the Bisquick, rosemary leaves, and milk until well blended. You should have a firm dough.
7. Form the dough into 8 small balls and place on top of the chicken and vegetables. Cover and simmer another 10-12 minutes, until the dumplings have risen.

Serve hot.

If you follow this recipe as shown here, it’ll make 4 extremely flavorful servings of healthy root vegetables and chicken. The nutritional information I calculated indicates high calories but also high vitamins and minerals. If you skip the dumplings, you’ll bring the calorie and sodium counts way down for an even healthier meal.

This is a huge hit at potluck suppers — which we have a lot of up here in Washington state. Double the recipe and stir in some cooked egg noodles instead of the dumplings just before serving to make it easier to serve.

If you make it, let me know how it goes!