DUMPLINGS CAKES RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5.
  2. Put your flour into a mixing bowl. Using a coarse grater, grate your cold butter into the flour. Add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
  3. Using your fingers, gently rub the butter into the flour until it begins to resemble breadcrumbs. Add a splash of cold water to help bind it into a dough.
  4. Divide the dough into 24 pieces and gently roll each into a round dumpling. The dumplings will suck up quite a bit of moisture so if your stew looks dry, add a cup of boiling water and give it a good stir.
  5. Place the dumplings on top of your fully cooked stew and press down lightly so that they’re half submerged. Cook in the oven or on the hob over a medium heat with the lid on for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• 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, 250ml water and tomato paste and crumble in the stock cube. Add a splash more 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.