A Classic

Yesterday I made my mom's recipe for Chicken and Dumplings for dinner. It was so good! I mentioned how good her recipe is a while back but I didn't include the recipe. So here it is; sorry no pictures, I need to play with the white settings or something on my camera because the pics I took were not at all appealing. 


Dot's Chicken and Dumpling Stew

3-4 chicken breasts with bones

3-4 celery stalks, rough chopped

3-4 carrots, rough chopped

2 medium to large onions, rough chopped (I like onions, if you don’t, use more of the carrots and celery)

1 can of peas, drained (Le Sueur canned peas are my choice; tried others and frozen but zip)

1/4 teaspoon of pepper (more if you like pepper)

Water

6 quart Dutch oven

Put chicken in pot and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil.  Then add onion, celery, carrots and pepper. Add 3 Tablespoons of Wyler’s Chicken crystals. I prefer the crystals to cube bullion. Personally I think the cubes have a very flat, cardboard like taste.

Cook on medium heat (simmer), stirring occasionally, until tender or approximately one hour. At this point, taste for seasoning. If it needs more chicken flavor add crystals by the teaspoon, let dissolve, taste. I don’t add any salt since the crystals have enough for my taste.

Remove chicken breasts to a plate and cover with foil. In a small bowl add 1/4 cup broth from pot, about the same amount of ice and 2 Tablespoons of Wondra or regular flour in a small mixing bowl; adding flour slowly while whisking to avoid lumps. Ice will melt as you do this. Pour this mixture gradually into pot, stirring constantly. My Dutch oven was about half full with liquid so I repeated the flour, ice and broth procedure again. Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer. You should notice the broth thickening. Depending on many factors, I’ve added the mixture only once and as many as three times to achieve the consistency I’m looking for which is a light and creamy not heavy gravy. Gently fold in peas. Return chicken breasts to the pot. You may remove any loose bones (chicken will be hot) before putting the chicken in the pot if you wish; just makes it neater when serving.

For the dumplings, follow the recipe on the box of Bisquick (or make from scratch if you prefer). Turn the stew up to boiling. Once it’s boiling drop spoonfuls of dough for the dumplings and cover pot. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes per directions on box. Remove lid and continue. I turned the heat up a little after removing lid so the stew would stay at a simmer. To serve, spoon one or two dumplings and a chicken breast to a warmed plate. Spoon vegetables and gravy over both.

You can doctor this all different ways if you wish. I never do, since the simple “chicken-y” taste is what I love. Perfect comfort food for cool weather!

If you want to see a load of chicken and dumpling photos that are way better than what I took, click here.