Chicken Stew with Doughboys

No matter how delicious stews are (and this one is), they don't tend to be naturally photogenic. But add doughboys and you go from drab to fab pretty quickly.


Chicken Stew with Doughboys
adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style
Serves 4

For the Stew:
About enough left-over roast chicken to give you 3 cups diced chicken
2 1/2 - 3 cups chicken stock
85g unsalted butter
2 sweet white onions, blitzed to a mush in a food processor
80g plain flour
2 tablespoons cream
2 carrots
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

For the Doughboys:
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
1/2 teaspoon sugar
60g cold unsalted butter, diced
80ml full-cream milk
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

For the Egg Wash:
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Make the Stew:

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.

In a small saucepan heat the chicken stock and season with some salt and pepper depending on how well seasoned the stock is.  Bring it to the boil and add the carrot so that they parboil.

In the meantime, put a large pot on the stove and melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Drain the carrots and reserve and add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add a teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the cream. Add the cubed chicken, the parboiled carrots, the peas and parsley. Mix well. Place the stew in a large oval or rectangular baking dish. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan and cover it with a layer of baking paper. Push the baking paper down onto the surface of the stew, this is called a cartouche. Bake for 15 minutes.

Make the Doughboys:

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Add the milk and combine on low speed. Mix in the parsley. Dump the dough out on a well-floured board and roll out to about 1cm thick. Cut out eight circles with a 6cm round cutter.

Remove the stew from the oven and discard the cartouche, Arrange the doughboys on top of the filling. Brush them with egg wash, and return the dish to the oven. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the doughboys are brown and the stew is bubbly.