Chicken, red wine and orange casserole with dumplings

[Tam]

I know... it sound awful but it is really good... honest!

I tend to use the meat from a left over roast chicken along with the stock made from the bones because I hate waste and my hubby is tight... LOL but you can use breast, thighs or legs for this, just use as many as needed eg, 4 breast/legs for four people. for the sake of the recipe I will write it using chicken breasts for 4.

You will need a casserole dish that holds a fair few litres for this one ladies

For the casserole -

4 Chicken breasts, chopped
60g Plain Flour ( I use Doves gluten free)
1 Large onion or 2 small, diced
250g of bacon bits, chopped (you can buy this from your butcher or super market)
1 TBsp of garlic puree
1 packet of mushrooms (250g I think?)
2 Bay Leaves
2 Tbsp of redcurrent Jelly
the peel from one satsuma or half of the peel from an orange (what ever you have in the house)
300mls red wine (I use asda smart price)
300mls chicken stock


For the dumplings -

Now remember we have gluten allergys so this is a bit different to normal dumplings but they just as good!

100g plain flour (doves famr Gluten free)
1/2 Tsp of gluten free baking powder
100g of rice crumbs (Bread crumbs sub)
1 TBsp of whole grain mustard (I leave it out for the kids)
150g Butter cubed and slightly soft
2 eggs beaten
2 Tsp of thyme
You can add 2 Tsp of parsley to counter the garlic if you wish

Oven 180 for 30 mins


Here's what to do -

if you are using raw chicken, heat a a small amount of olive oil in your casserole dish on the hob, (1/2 tbspof oil to start, add more if chicken starts to stick to the bottom, also turn the heat down a bit if sticking) when hot enough add the chicken is small batches and brown lightly on both sides, then set aside until needed again.

Add the oil to the dish, when hot add the diced onion and stir a bit, leave until the onion starts to go clear, then add the bacon bits and once they start to brown then add the garlic and cook for a min then add the flour, you will need to keep stirring it at this point to stop the flour sticking to the bottom and burning (This will ruin the taste) cook the flour for about 2 mins then add the mushroom, bay leaves, red wine, chicken stock, red current jelly and the chicken you set aside earlier.

Bring it all to the boil and then put the lid on and put in the oven on 180 for 30 mins

For the dumplings -

Add the flour, rice crumbs, baking powder herbs and butter into a food mixer and mix until it looks combined then add the Mustard (if using) and the eggs and mix again, once mixed, take a small handful and roll into a little ball, half the size of a golf ball and keep going until you've no mixture left.
(If your finding your mixture too stick just coat your hands in flour when rolling them.)

Once the casserole has had its 30 mins, add the dumpling to the pot and leave the lids off and put back in the oven for another 20-25 mins and the dumpling will be beautiful and crispy on top and soft underneath.


Both of my kids eat this and its the only chicken casserole that my hubby eat too so I hope you enjoy it too, all the alcohol is burned off in the cooking but if you worried about it you can just use more chicken stock instead, the taste and colour will be differnt but just as good!