Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Dumplings.  I have to say, this is one of my childhood favorites growing up.  It is amazing how when you are young its the simple meals stick with you as an adult.  So, now when it gets cold outside or is a dreary day, this meal comes to mind.  Well, since it is has gotten colder and have been raining outside, I would like to share it with you as well  (Just send me down to the recipe).

Cooking the Chicken

• Whole Chicken
• 6 qt Water
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Pepper
• 1 Tbsp Onion Powder
• 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
• 3 Tbsp Parsley

I chose to use a whole chicken for this meal. It really makes life pretty easy because you can drop a half frozen one in there and just boil it. I chose to boil mines for about 45 minutes to an hour and some of the water ended up boiling out, but that’s fine. Just be sure that you DO NOT pour that chicken broth out!  You will use it for the next phase which is to make the dumplings.

Once your chicken is done boiling, turn your pot off (or remove it from the burner) and allow it to cool enough for you to handle the chicken.  Once it has cooled off, start to pull some of the meat off the bones.  You could choose to just pull the chicken apart at the joints and leave whole pieces, but I like mine to have the chicken pulled off the bones.  Once you have it pulled the way you want, set it aside.

Making the Dumplings

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 2 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 2 cups Buttermilk

Before I get started, I would like to say that if you do not wish to make your own dumplings, you can skip this step and buy them in the frozen food section of the grocery store.  However, I find that there is nothing like making them homemade because they taste so much better!

In a bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients first (flour, salt, & baking powder).  Then, you will want to cut up a stick (1/2 cup) of butter into the dry mixture.  I think I may have cut each table spoon of butter into four pieces.  If you do not have the stick butter with measurements, then just plop yours in the dry mixture however you like.  The end goal is to cut the butter into the flour evenly until it becomes crumbly. Last, add the buttermilk to the mixture a little at the time and combine. You’ll want to do this until the dough comes together and create a nice dough ball.  If you have a tad bit of buttermilk leftover, that’s ok. You do not want the dough to be too sticky, making it difficult to work.

Rolling & Cooking the Dumplings

At this point, you will want to bring your chicken broth back to a slow rolling boil while you finish up your dumplings.  Next, I took my dough ball and separated it into three smaller ones.  This made it a little easier to work as I didn’t have that much counter space.  You will want to flour your surface, grab your rolling pin, and roll the dough out until it is thin, maybe an 1/8 inch, otherwise, make it as thick as you like.

Then, I cut the dough into about 5″ strips using a pizza slicer.  Believe it or not, a pizza slicer works REALLY WELL when cutting the dough like this, but I would caution you to be careful if you are on  counter tops. I wouldn’t want you to cut lines in counter tops that are soft! I am on a folding table so it doesn’t matter to much for me.

Hopefully, your chicken broth is back to a boil by now.  Simply add your dumplings to the broth one at a time.  It will start to become crowded, but you can use a spoon to push the dough back to drop uncooked dough into the broth.  Once you’ve added it all, let it come back to a slow boil and begin rolling out your second and third dough balls.  Repeat the steps as you did for the first and let it all come back to a slow rolling boil.

Finishing Up

It’s the grand finally!!! Now that your dumplings are cooked, turn your heat on low.  Add your pulled chicken to the pot and mix it up well with the dumplings.  I let mine sit on low for another 10-15 minutes with top on the pot, however, you can serve yours up now if you like!  I hope you enjoy!