For me, true home-style chicken and dumplings requires killing a couple of old hens, plucking and preparing them and stewing them in a big pot of water for hours. For Patrick, home-style means cut up boneless, skinless chicken breasts in Swanson's low-sodium chicken broth with carrots, onions and celery, and it can all be made in 30-40 minutes.
I suppose I could catch a couple of old biddies (something we used to call hens) and turn them into soup, but our neighbors would be pissed since it's their chickens. One of these days I'll show you how to make squirrel stew.
Patrick would rather have chicken with dumplings over noodles or rice. I need some variety, so I made a compromise chicken soup to make both of us happy.
I started with boneless, skinless chicken thighs because dark meat has more flavor, in my opinion.
After cutting up the chicken, I lightly browned it in the bottom of the pot in two tablespoons of olive oil. Every recipe out there says one tablespoon of olive oil in order to keep the fat and calories down, but have you ever seen the chefs on cooking shows when they get hold of a bottle of olive oil? They drizzle it on everything, before, during and after cooking. I will not apologize for using two tablespoons for browning the chicken.
Browning the chicken adds all kinds of extra flavor and makes a darker, richer soup.
Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked through, I toss in a coarsely diced onion and saute it until the onion starts to soften. This adds chicken flavor to the onion and onion flavor to the chicken.
This is one of my favorite kitchen hacks. I cut off the stem end of the onion, then slice it in half through the root end and then I peel it. Next I slice through the onion at angles, dividing it like an orange, being careful not to cut all the way to the root. Now when I slice the onion I get instant diced onion without all of the chopping. I love it!
I suppose I could catch a couple of old biddies (something we used to call hens) and turn them into soup, but our neighbors would be pissed since it's their chickens. One of these days I'll show you how to make squirrel stew.
Patrick would rather have chicken with dumplings over noodles or rice. I need some variety, so I made a compromise chicken soup to make both of us happy.
I started with boneless, skinless chicken thighs because dark meat has more flavor, in my opinion.
After cutting up the chicken, I lightly browned it in the bottom of the pot in two tablespoons of olive oil. Every recipe out there says one tablespoon of olive oil in order to keep the fat and calories down, but have you ever seen the chefs on cooking shows when they get hold of a bottle of olive oil? They drizzle it on everything, before, during and after cooking. I will not apologize for using two tablespoons for browning the chicken.
Browning the chicken adds all kinds of extra flavor and makes a darker, richer soup.
Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked through, I toss in a coarsely diced onion and saute it until the onion starts to soften. This adds chicken flavor to the onion and onion flavor to the chicken.
This is one of my favorite kitchen hacks. I cut off the stem end of the onion, then slice it in half through the root end and then I peel it. Next I slice through the onion at angles, dividing it like an orange, being careful not to cut all the way to the root. Now when I slice the onion I get instant diced onion without all of the chopping. I love it!
It's time to add the broth. In this case, I used one 32 oz. carton of vegetable stock and two 32 oz. cartons of chicken broth. When I make chicken and dumplings I have to make a lot, because everyone wants seconds.
I let the broth heat slowly to a boil, adding a few stalks of celery and several carrots as I get them chopped.
I add half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper, a tablespoon of poultry seasoning, and about a teaspoon of Gumbo File. File is a mix of sassafras leaves and thyme, and it adds more savory flavor to the mix. By the way, there is also thyme in the poultry seasoning, so if you don't love thyme you might skip the File.
I also like to add some of the sumac spice I made last summer. Sumac is mostly known for its lemony flavor, but it adds other complexity to the soup as well.
Browning the chicken gave the broth a rich, brown color. I also threw in the stock I made from the vegetable trimmings.
When all was ready and the soup was at a nice boil, I made the dumplings.
We usually use a baking mix for the dumplings. The family prefers Jiffy Mix to Bisquick and they like their dumplings fluffy. As I said, I like a little change of pace, so I made dumplings from scratch. For our bunch I had to double this recipe.
Easy Scratch Dumplings
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup melted butter (or margarine)
1 Cup whole milk
In a large mixing bowl, I mixed the dry ingredients thoroughly. I placed the bowl on the mixer turntable and snapped the dough hooks into the mixer. With my bamboo spoon, I made a well in the flour mix and poured in the butter. I turned the mixer on to a slow speed and mixed the dough to a crumbly consistency, being careful to scrape the bowl to get all of the dry flour mixed in.
With the mixer running on low speed, I slowly poured in the milk. The finished dough will be a bit lumpy.
Using a large spoon, I dropped globs of dough into the boiling broth, starting around the edges, then into the middle, until all of the dough was in the pot.
The important part of cooking these drop dumplings (as Patrick makes a point of reminding me often) is to cook for ten minutes uncovered at a low boil, then reduce heat, cover, and cook for another twelve minutes. Next, remove the pot from heat, let it stand for ten minutes, then serve.
These dumplings came out heavier and almost chewy, reminding me of the country dumplings of my childhood. The combination of the brown broth and dense dumplings made a delicious change of pace for me, but Patrick brought home a big box of Jiffy Mix the next day.
Stephen
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