Treat your taste buds to New Orleans cuisine

1. For the uncooked chicken, dissolve the sugar and 1/4 cup salt together in 1 quart cold water in a medium bowl. Add the pieces of chicken thighs and let them marinate in the brine, refrigerated, for 1 hour. Drain the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Discard the brine.

2. Heat the olive oil in a wide heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Add the chicken and sauté until it is no longer pink. Add the shallots, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes, reduce the heat to moderate, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock and simmer until the liquid has reduced by nearly half, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the chanterelles, thyme, sage, peas, and tomatoes to the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add the butter and season with salt and pepper. Cover and reduce the heat to low to keep the chicken and vegetables warm while making the dumplings.

4. For the dumplings, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, then reduce the heat to moderate to maintain a very gentle boil.

5. Combine the ricotta with the egg yolks, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium mixing bowl. Gradually stir in just enough flour to form a soft dough. Test the dumpling dough before adding more flour by dropping a small spoonful of the dough into the boiling water. Once the dumpling floats to the surface, let it poach for 45 seconds. If the dumpling breaks apart while cooking, you'll need to add a bit more flour to the dough and test again. Just don't overwork the dough, or it'll become tough.

6. Drop the remaining dough by teaspoonfuls into the boiling water and poach the dumplings for 45 seconds. As soon as they are done, use a slotted spoon to transfer the dumplings to the pot of chicken and vegetables.

7. Serve the chicken and dumplings in bowls and scatter the chervil on top.