Chef Justin White: Small Bar Division

This recipe for chicken and dumplings isn’t easy, but it has a pretty satisfying twist. When you’re finished making it, you can update your Facebook status to say: “Just made Parisian gnocchi from scratch. Le Bam!”

Braised Chicken Ingredients:
3 tbsp pomace oil
4 lbs chicken legs and thighs, skin on (approximately eight connected legs and thighs)
6 smashed garlic cloves
2 peeled and rough-cut carrots
2 peeled and rough-cut Spanish onion
5 stocks rough-cut celery
2 tbsp whole-toasted black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 gallons chicken stock (homemade or hormone-free store bought)

Soup Broth Ingredients:
Remanding braising liquid
Kosher salt (to taste)
Fresh ground black pepper (to taste)

Vegetable Ingredients:
5 peeled and rough-cut carrots
2 peeled and rough-cut Spanish onions
4 stocks rough-cut celery

Parisian Gnocchi Ingredients:
½ cup chicken stock (homemade or hormone free store bought)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tbsp fine-ground black peppercorns
2 ¾ oz all-purpose flour
2 tbsp chopped tarragon
2 whole eggs

Garnish Ingredients:
Fresh lemon juice
Chopped flat-leaf parsley

Chicken Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325º.
2. Season chicken legs with salt and pepper and allow to come up to room temperature (about 20 minutes).
3. Set a flat-bottom pan to medium-high heat while chicken is warming up.
4. Add pomace oil to pan, and just as the oil begins to smoke, lay the chicken legs, skin-side down, into the pan. (It is important at this point to not over-crowd the pan. Do this in batches if your pan is not large enough to avoid overlapping).
5. Allow chicken to caramelize for six to eight minutes.
6. Turn the legs over and continue cooking for another six to eight minutes or until golden.
7. Remove chicken from pan and place in oven-safe roasting pan.
8. Add garlic, carrot, celery, onion, black peppercorns and bay leaf to the pan, turning the heat down to a medium heat, and sweat until vegetables are shiny, about seven to eight minutes.
9. Cover cooked vegetables with chicken stock and turn heat to high, bringing stock to a boil.
10. Once stock has come to a boil, turn off the heat and pour stock and all other ingredients over seared chicken in oven-safe roasting pan and cover with aluminum foil.
11. Place roasting pan on the middle rack of preheated oven and allow to cook for approximately one hour, or until meat pulls effortlessly from the bone.
12. Pull all meat into bite-size pieces and set aside, cover with plastic wrap.

Broth Directions:
1. Strain remaining braising liquid through a mesh strainer into a soup pot large enough to hold all ingredients for final soup.
2. Set the pot over low heat and skim any fat.
3. Season broth with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper and add cut soup vegetables. Leave at a slight simmer.

Parisian Gnocchi Directions:
1. Combine chicken stock, butter, salt and black pepper in a four-cup sauce pan and place over high heat.
2. Bring all ingredients to a boil, add flour and turn heat to low.
3. Stir mixture until dough forms. Cook dough another three to four minutes over low while rolling the dough.
4. When a slight white film shows on the bottom of the pan, remove the dough and place into a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment.
5. Turn mixer to medium speed and add eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to fully incorporate before adding the next.
6. Once eggs are combined, add tarragon and pour dough into a pastry bag (a gallon zip lock bag will work just as well).
7. Cut a quarter-sized hole in the bottom of the bag. Using a butter knife, cut the dough into the simmering chicken broth and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes or until dumplings have plumped to double their size.
8. Add the reserved chicken meat back to the broth and adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a little squeeze of lemon juice in each bowl.

...and for the soul: White stays warm with a variety of toppers (he has a hat collection at home.) Also — as any smart man — he keeps his bar stocked with a bottle of belly-warming whiskey all winter.

Small Bar Division, 2049 West Division Street (at Hoyne Avenue); 773-772-2727.