Creamy Chicken and Parmesan Dumplings

To prepare stew, rinse chicken pieces with cold water and place them in an 8-quart stock pot. Add 3 quarts stock, bay leaves, thyme, the cloves of garlic and the intact half of the onion. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat a bit and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove chicken pieces from the pot and allow it to cool. Strain stock through a sieve into a large bowl. Discard the solids. Remove chicken meat from bones; tear chicken meat into 2-inch pieces, and store in the refrigerator.

Strain stock and skim off any fat from the top. Return stock to your stock pot. Bring stock to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer until reduced to 8 cups (about 15 minutes).

In a Dutch oven or large stock pot heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, carrots and celery. Stir and continue to cook until they are nice and browned. Deglaze the pan with some stock or you can add a splash of white wine if you like. Get all those lovely bits up off the bottom of the pan.

Now add all of the stock to the veggies except for one cup. Take the remaining cup of stock and stir in 1 tablespoon of flour to make a slurry. Add to the stock that’s already in the Dutch oven mixing well so it doesn’t get lumpy. Cook for 1 minute and reduce heat to low. Now add that cream, then add the cooked chicken, salt and pepper.

For the dumplings:
Combine Bisquick and Parmesan cheese in a medium-sized bowl. Add milk, stirring with a fork just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Drop one-third of the dumpling batter by 8 heaping tablespoons into the chicken mixture. Cover the pot and cook for 3 minutes or until the dumplings are done (do not allow chicken mixture to boil). Remove dumplings from the broth with a slotted spoon; place in a large serving bowl or on a deep serving platter. Cover the platter to keep them warm. Repeat procedure with remaining dumpling batter.

Remove pan from heat; slowly pour stew over the cooked dumplings. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.