Chicken and Cornmeal dumplings

a springy take with leeks, lemon, and peas!

Growing up, until I was in middle school, we always had live-in nannies. I realize that we’re off to a somewhat un-relatable start here, but stay with me. My parents both worked a lot and we didn’t live in the same state as our extended family, so this was the clearest solution. They were always women somewhere in their early 20’s (a highly alluring and mysterious age for a kid) and frequently part of the au pair program, which meant that their work visas only permitted them to stay for a year. A few of them were from the US, in Nashville to pursue a career in music. Regardless, to my memory, it was never more than a year before my parents were again at the kitchen table flipping thorough applications.

For the most part, my sisters and I were obsessed with them. As I said, people in their early 20’s are completely fascinating to an elementary school kid. They were definitely adults in my mind, but were obviously younger and cooler than my parents. Instead, they existed in a sort of vague age group that I was desperate to know more about. Some were better than others, but for the most part, my sisters and I were completely smitten.

Early on there was Ginny from England who ended up falling in love with, and later getting her heart broken by a Swedish nanny. It seemed the Swede had many admirers that year. Then there was Elaine from New Zealand, who upon arrival turned out to be a goth. A bit off putting but still fascinating as a kid. When we picked her up from the airport, she had on white powdery makeup, dark eye liner, and a cool skateboard decorated with a picture of Spock. Her and I didn’t exactly get along and once I was caught writing “Elaine is a mean old hag” on the back of my math worksheet. She had a boyfriend back home who she’d show us pictures of and spent most of the time being desperately homesick. Then there was Elsie, who was tall and gorgeous, strict but lovable. She ended up dating a local guy named Chris (or as she would coo to him on the phone, “Chwissy Bear”). They met at a yard sale (she was always on a side quest) and for Easter that year he gifted her two white baby ducklings. Pretty frequently, she’d fill the bathtub and let them swim around. Amber Lynn was from Louisiana. She had a pretty accent and sang opera. We’d listen to Deana Carter on the cd player in the kitchen and she’d tell me I was a good singer.

Our favorite was Claire. She was from Australia and brought with her pictures of kangaroos. Before coming to Nashville, she’d never seen a squirrel and would take pictures of them when they came up to the porch. She had long shiny hair that she’d twist back with butterfly clips and seemed impossibly smart, as evidence by the fact that she’d sometimes mute the tv and read during the commercial breaks. My older sister and I cried when it was time to take her to the airport and fought over the odds and ends that she left behind—relics of a cool adult woman.

At the time that’s what I viewed them as—cool adult women—and looking back I realize how young they were. Just out of college (or as they’d probably say, “uni”) and living abroad with a foreign family for an entire year. Most of all, I think about how difficult that must have been to suddenly have to cook for me and my sisters with the limited repertoire of recipes one often has at that age. Elsie would frequently make a super vinegary rice salad with pickles and yellow mustard, and a couple of times made boxed mac n cheese without draining the water. She introduced us to Nutella on toast. Jillian, a musician, mostly shopped at the health food store and was anti white rice. Clair brought with her jars of Vegemite for us to try.

Amber Lynn would make Sweet Sue Chicken n’ Dumplings from the can. I didn’t like it that much as a kid, but my older sister was a vocal fan and thus we had it fairly often. It wasn’t until I had the real deal as an adult that I realized that there’s actually nothing not to like about it. It’s a dish that we make pretty often for Scratch Made because it perfectly fits what we’re trying to serve—comforting dishes made as you would (or would like to) at home with high quality, mostly-local ingredients. Only you don’t have to make it or clean it up. Often times, I find that at Scratch Made, we tend to make dishes that I seldom, if ever, make at home. Dishes that seem a little too high maintenance to justify cooking for only two of us. Chicken n’ dumplings definitely falls into that category. Theres the base, the shredded chicken, and not to mention the dumpling batter.

However, at work, we keep it on a pretty steady rotation. And we’ve perfected the process to where it’s become one of our most popular dishes. For large scale, steam the dumplings, cook the base, and poach the chicken, separately. It requires us to set up steaming trays for the dumplings, that we then place on top of the stew at the time of plating. And we make a couple of different versions. Sometimes the dumplings are made with buttermilk and other times we make a cornmeal batter. Always, though, we opt for a fluffy, almost-biscuit-like-dumpling rather than those that resemble a thick noodle. This just comes down to personal preference and what we can reasonably produce at large scale.

For Mother’s Day this year, I decided to make chicken n’ dumplings at home for Collin’s mom. We have her over for lunch to celebrate every year and this, as it turns out, is one of her favorite foods. I opted for the cornmeal batter because I like the nuttiness and the bright yellow color somehow seems more seasonally appropriate. At the peak of the farm to table movement, I worked with a chef who said that the trick was to wait until peas are in season and then use frozen. They’re often better anyways. So, to add a spring-y touch, I added frozen peas, as well as lots of leeks and herbs, and brightened it up with white wine and lemon. It was delicious. The perfect comfort food. And although the weather is warming up, this take on the classic remains, still light enough to serve—especially when accompanied by a crisp glass of white wine.

As is so frequently the case when filming a recipe, it only occurs to me to take a picture of the finished dish after digging in. Take this as evidence of how delicious this was though. No time could be spared for pictures—we had to dig in!

Cornmeal Chicken n’ Dumplings

Ingredients:

For the base: