Chicken and Cavatelli

Perfect comfort food for these cold winter days, delicious too! I found this recipe in Food & Wine: Qick from Scratch Chicken Cookbook:

So comforting, this dish reminds us of Grandma’s chicken and dumplings. In fact you can substitute frozen dumplings for cavatelli.

Ingredients

• 5 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 onion, cut into thin slices
• 2 ribs celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
• 4 bone-in chicken breasts (about 2 1/4 lb in all)
• 1/4 lb frozen cavatelli, egg noodles or dumplings
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 2 tablespoons flour

I made it with homemade dumplings last eve... Mmmmmmm!

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring the broth, bay leaf, onion, celery, and carrots to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sage, salt, pepper, and chicken breasts and simmer, partially covered until just done, about 25 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts a few times during cooking.
2. Meanwhile in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the cavatelli until just done, about 10 minutes. Drain
3. In a small bowl, stir the margarine and flour together to form a paste. Remove the bay leaf from the pot. push the chicken to the side and then whisk the margarine mixture into the liquid. Simmer until thickened, 1 or 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked cavatelli and simmer until just heated through.

Frozen Pasta

Several brands of frozen cavatelli, flat egg noodles or gnocchi are available in supermarkets. Unlike dried pasta, these products have an appealing doughty chew that we find just right with this type of saucy stew. Cook the the frozen pasta separately according to package instructions, drain, and then stir into the pot with the chicken.

Coming back last evening, from a very cold day, making the above recipe with my own homemade dumplings was comforting and delicious.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS