Chicken with Potato Dumplings

This is a recipe I found in a book, but I'm using a slightly different version of it. The original version called for chicken breasts, whilst I am using chicken drumsticks. I've also added the carrot and celery and changed the herb from tarragon to thyme.

1 onion, chopped
300ml chicken stock
120ml white wine
10 small-medium chicken drumsticks
200ml double cream
1 tbsp fresh thyme
3 large carrots, thinly sliced
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to season
Potato Dumplings
3 small, or 2 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed
175g suet
115g self-raising flour
50ml water
2tbsp mixed fresh herbs
salt and pepper to season

Step 1
In a deep-sided frying pan place the onion, stock wine and chicken. Bring to a simmer, and leave covered for 15 minutes.

Step 2
Remove the Chicken from the stock, then strain the stock and discard the onions. Reduce the stock, by about a third, on a high heat before lowering the temperature to simmer. Add the thyme and the cream and simmer until thickened. Stir in the chicken and season with salt and pepper

Step 3
Boil some water with the carrots, and simmer for 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Add to the chicken and sauce, then spoon the mixture into a 1L ovenproof dish. Mix the solid dumpling ingredients, then stir in the water, using your fingertips, to make a soft dough. divide up the dough into balls and place on top of the chicken mixture before placing uncovered in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.

This produces a really nice chicken dish, and because of the cream is very rich. Due to the cooking  of the sauce after the reduction I found that it was a bit too thick, and my solution was to make up a quick sauce with some more chicken stock, a bit of the thick sauce, salt and pepper, and a touch more thyme. It turned out really well though, and balanced out the sauce in the main dish. The potato dumplings are quite filling, so with the carrots you may have all the vegetables you need, or you may want to, like me, add something like peas on the side.