I’m aiming for this to be a recurring theme on the blog - so you can see the real deal of cooking for a meal co-op. Ideally I’ll have some real life photos capturing the chaos and also some pretty ones to entice you to jump on in (or maybe the chaos will be more relatable and empowering!)
This week I made chicken stew and dumplings, this recipe was inspired by a Martha Stewart meal and adapted to work for me, as I often don’t have time to have chop up a bunch of hot chicken.
Smaller version - Feeds 8 - 12
I made a larger version this week to feed about 20 people that included 2 rotisserie chickens (just double the recipe)
Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 yellow onions, diced
4 carrots, sliced into rounds
4 celery stalks, chopped
4 garlic cloves - minced
1 tsp thyme
3 red potatoes chopped into medium sizes
16 cups chicken broth (homemade, packaged or better than bouillon)
1 rotisserie chicken, with the meat removed, chopped/torn into small/medium bites (Discard the skin. If you can, save the bones to make broth later, I freeze mine with all the veggie choppings that come with prepping this soup and then pop it all in the instant pot to make bone broth in about 2 hours)
1 cup of frozen peas or corn - or both
Dumplings:
1 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 ¾ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp fresh rosemary or ½ tsp dried rosemary
½ cup + 2 tbsp or so of milk
Directions:
Start by warming the olive oil in a big pot on medium high heat, and then add in your onions, saute for a few minutes until they are soft and then add in the carrots and celery. Saute for a few minutes. Add in the garlic, thyme and chicken til the chicken starts to brown a tiny bit.. Slowly add a bit of the broth and de glaze the pan - scraping up any browned bits that have stuck to the bottom. Add the rest of the broth and the potatoes. Bring to a simmer and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add in the frozen veggies at the end. At this point I divide up the soup into big mason jars and pop them in the fridge to deliver to families.
To make the dumplings, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl - when making these for meal co-op I simply combine the dry ingredients in a jar and then let everyone know to add ½ cup of milk to the dry ingredients when they are ready to made dinner.
To serve - Add the ½ cup milk - plus maybe a bit more to the dry ingredients. The batter will resemble pancake batter and you spoon it onto the bubbling soup, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Serve!