Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

A nice, rustic dish for Foodie Friday, good any time. You can make the soup part ahead of time, divide into portions and freeze. When you want individual servings, you can bring the soup to a low boil, mix up the dumpling dough, drop in and cook until they rise to the top and you're good to go with a hot meal in about 10 minutes. (Go to the bottom of the instructions for an interesting add-in.)

Chicken and Dumplings (prep time 30-60 minutes, depending on if you use pre-cooked chicken or have to cook the chicken)

3 chicken breasts or a store-bought, pre-roasted chicken

1 yellow onion, diced

3 ribs celery, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1 C. mushrooms, sliced (baby portabella are best)

3 cloves garlic, finely diced

4 C. chicken stock

2 tsp. sage

1 tsp. rosemary

2 Tb. Parsley

1 Tb. Soy sauce

2 Tb. Olive oil

Pinch each of salt and pepper

Dumplings:

2 C. all purpose flour

¼ C. ice cold water.

(Don’t tell WHWK’s John Davison, but you could just mix up the dumpling instructions on a box of Bisquick)

Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a stock pot or Dutch oven. If cooking your own chicken, brown the breasts on both sides until golden, reduce heat and continue to cook along with the onion, carrots, celery. Take the chicken out when it is still a little pink inside since it will continue to cook in the broth. Add the garlic and mushrooms to the pan and cook until tender. If you want a thicker stock, stir in about a tablespoon of flour to make a roux.  Add sage, rosemary and parsley along with the chicken stock and bring to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes.  (If using pre-cooked chicken, pull the meat off the bones and put the bones in the broth for additional flavor. Take the bones out after the dumpling dough is ready and you're set to put the meat in.)

For the dumplings: put flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl and add ice water in a couple tablespoons at a time in a hole in the center of the flour and mix with fingers. Keep adding ice water until the dough comes together but is still moist. Turn out on plastic wrap that has been dusted with a little flour and allow to rest.  After about 5 minutes or after you pull apart the meat on the cooked chicken breasts,  knead the dough a little to make it a little less sticky.

Add the chicken back to the simmering broth.  Salt and pepper the stock and add the soy sauce. Taste for seasoning.  Turn up the heat to medium to bring the stock to a medium boil but not a rolling boil since that will cause the dumplings to break apart.  Drop the dough by the spoon-full into the stock.  The dumplings will be done when they float to the top.  Spoon into bowls.

For an unusual, optional garnish (the husband loved this), sprinkle the top with sliced, mini turkey pepperoni. No kidding! They sell it in a little package where you find other pepperoni in the supermarket.  You could also dice regular pepperoni and sprinkle on top. Don’t know why, but apparently it works!