Comfort Food Recipes from Newport Beach Restaurants
We all need a little bit more comfort, that’s why we turned to two locally-loved Newport Beach restaurants to share recipes for fan-favorite comfort dishes for you to make at home. Tavern House gives us Chicken & Thyme Dumplings and A&O Kitchen+Bar serves up their chicken fried sandwich. With ingredients found in your pantry and freezer, these recipes are easy-to-make, will enhance you’re cooking skill sand are so comforting, they’re essentially a hug in a dish, happy cooking!
Chicken & Thyme Dumplings from Tavern House
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup finely diced onions
1 tbsp minced garlic
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
5 cups chicken broth
¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp dried thyme
3 cups frozen peas and carrots, defrosted
6 cups coarsely chopped, roasted boneless chicken
½ cup heavy cream
7 tbsp cornstarch
7 tbsp water
For dumplings:
1-1/2 cup flour
½ cup cornmeal
1 tbsp Baking Powder1 tsp kosher salt
1-1/2 cups half and half
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves1 tbsp chopped chives
Directions:
- Place oil in large dutch oven and heat.
- Add onions, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic and turmeric and cook over low heat until onions are just translucent.
- Add chicken stock and chicken and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to simmer and add cream.
- Bring to a simmer and using a soup spoon, drop individual scoops of the dumpling batter evenly on the top of the simmering broth.
- Cover the pot and continue to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the tops of the dumplings are firm and no longer doughy.
- Allow to sit 10-15 minutes before serving.
Fried Chicken Sandwich from A&O Kitchen+Bar
Ingredients:
10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp kosher salt
3 tsp black pepper
3 cups all-purpose flour canola oil (as needed)
pickles
coleslaw
aioli
Directions:
- In a mixing bowl, combine buttermilk, paprika, cayenne, and half the salt and black pepper.
- Add chicken.
- Mix well and refrigerate for 2 hours to marinate.
Add the flour and remaining salt and black pepper to a baking dish. - Remove the chicken from bowl, 2 to 3 pieces at a time and coat well in the seasoned flour.
- Be sure to press the flour into the meat cover completely. Shake off excess and reserve on a baking sheet.
- When all the pieces of chicken are dredged in the flour, add about an inch of oil to a heavy frying pan.
- Over medium-high flame, heat the oil to 375 F.
- Fry chicken for about 20 minutes, flipping occasionally, until golden brown.
- Rest on pan with cooling rack to drain excess oil.
- Assemble sandwich as desired.
BONUS! Pair with A&O’s Rose All Day Cocktail
Ingredients:
1oz Ketel One Vodka
1oz grapefruit simple syrup
1oz lemon juice
3/4 oz grapefruit juice
Directions:
- Make grapefruit simple syrup by combining 2 parts sugar, 1 part grapefruit juice to a pot and heat until the sugar has dissolved; let cool.
- Combine all ingredients, shake and strain into a rocks glass over ice.
- Garnish with a lime wheel.