Let me preface this by saying that I have been trying to figure out a good chicken and dumplings recipe. One with a semi-thick broth and homemade dumplings that didn’t make me want to scream when I rolled them out. So, as the temperatures hovered around freezing last week, I set out to figure this one out. I looked at a couple of recipes online, but those didn’t seem to be quite what I was looking for. So, I looked through a couple of “southern” cookbooks we have. The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern seemed to have a good method, but the dumplings seemed more like egg noodles, not what I was looking for. So, I pulled out The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook. This recipe had the dumplings I wanted, so I set out to combine the two somewhat, and add a little extra.
So, here it is:
Broth:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup finely diced yellow onion
32 oz Chicken Broth
1/2 of a chicken, cut into pieces
Dumplings:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cream of chicken soup
In a dutch oven (I used my 5 qt.), melt the butter, and add the onion. Saute until translucent. Add the broth and chicken pieces. Add water until the chicken is covered. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil until chicken floats, 25-30 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking make your dumplings. Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and pepper (you can sift these together if you would like). Work the shortening into the dry mixture with your fingers until it is combined, forming a crumb-like texture. Add the milk a little at a time until the dough is slightly stiffer than a biscuit dough. Place the dough on a slightly floured surface, and roll to an 1/8 inch thickness. Then, cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch squares.
When the chicken is done, remove from the broth, and allow to cool for a few minutes. Keep the broth boiling so it will reduce slightly. Shred the chicken with two forks into bite size pieces.
Add the shredded chicken back to the broth and season the broth with salt and pepper. Bring to a low boil and add dumplings. Shake the pot slightly to keep the dumplings from sticking. Boil the dumplings for 5-8 minutes, shaking the pot once in the middle of cooking.
Add the cream of chicken soup to thicken the broth. Stir until combined.
Serves 4 to 6
