It has been literally months since we here in California have had a good rainfall. That all changed yesterday when the storm door finally opened bringing us a weekend filled with rain and I couldn’t be happier.
While I would rather spend my time outside enjoying nature I’m quite content to stay inside this weekend and work on some genealogy research and cook up some comfort food. Add some time to watch a few movies and perhaps catch up on some reading and I think the weekend is going to be pretty wonderful.
After checking several comfort food style recipes I decided to try a Southwestern style chicken and dumplings recipe from Sunset Magazine, Nov 2003. Chicken thighs are simmered slowly with onion, red pepper Mexican style canned tomatoes, chicken stock and enchilada sauce producing a rich, somewhat spicy but not too spicy stew. The dumplings have cornmeal and pickled jalapeño chilies in them and are the perfect accompaniment to the chicken. You could always substitute chopped green chilies if you don’t think you’d like the pickled ones. The only thing I might add to the stew would be some sliced carrots. I also liked the addition of a little fresh cilantro just before serving. Otherwise it was very tasty and easy to fix. The perfect comfort food for a rainy evening.
You can find the recipe here.
Anniespickns's Blog 
So glad you liked it CC. I browned the thighs, skin on, first then sautéed the veggies. I think I should have made the dumplings smaller and will do that next time. They took longer to cook than I thought they should.
Also wanted to say, your rain is a miracle. New Mexicans can understand Californians’ pain in this respect.
It is a miracle CC and we are truly grateful for every drop we receive. I know you can relate.
Will definitely try this! Great post!!
It so reminds me of NM cuisine. Real southwest comfort food.
I tried making this last night and we love this dish. Did add carrots and you are right, they are important addition – reminiscent of matzo ball soup. I need a bigger pot, though. And I put the thighs in with saute at first – will try not doing that next time. Also, left the skin on …