Today I needed Chicken N Dumplins

So, I ran to the store and got a few things, LOL.  Somehow, I feel like I need to channel my Mamaw, and make this warm, thick, hearty meal.  I miss her.  I never did get her recipe, but I did some internet trolling and am combining some inspiration from Ree Drummond (of Pioneer Woman fame,) as well as a few others. I am going to post how I made my batch today, so that I can share with you, and I can look back and see what I did the next time I want to make it!

When making anything with a good flavorful stock, use bone-in meat, if possible.  They guys at my local Food City meat counter are great for making recommendations, and today, they cut up my chicken for me :) So pick out a whole young chicken.  If they have some already cut up, that's great.  If you go somewhere that they actually have a meat counter, the butchers will generally cut up the bird for you for a very small charge.  I've never been charged, but I have heard that some people have.

Even though there are parts of a whole chicken that you won't eat, in the end, it is all important for the overall flavor of the stock.

Here is what I used in making my meal today:

Stock:
Whole young chicken, cut up
1 can cream of celery soup
flour
olive oil
salt & pepper
cumin
sage
tumeric
bay leaves
carrots
celery
onion








In your large stock pot, get a little olive oil heating in the bottom.  Salt and pepper all of the pieces of chicken, on both sides.

























Then dredge the seasoned meat in the flour, knocking off the excess.























Place the pieces gently in the skillet to brown on all sides.  You can use a higher temp here to brown them quickly, because all you want to do is infuse the chicken flavor into the dish.  Just be careful not to burn the oil, or the chicken.  You do not want to cook the meat all the way through, so as soon as it's browned on all sides, pull it out, and get another piece browning.









This is my platter of browned chicken.  Frying chicken always smells so good.  It's a good thing I have my mouth set on chicken and dumplins!

Sit your stock pot off of the heat so it can cool a bit.  Sit the platter of tempting smelling chicken off to the side for now, as well.


Now, get out your vegetables, and wash them thoroughly, the only thing you need to peel is the onion.

Then give them a rough chop, and throw them in to the stock pot, and turn it to a medium setting.  I suppose you could get all fancy, and make the vegetables all even, but at this point, I haven't decided if I am leaving the carrots in at the end, or just using them for the flavor profile. Also, we like rough chopped veggies here in my house.  It works for us since he likes his softer and I like mine more firm.

Sprinkle your seasonings over the top of the veggies in the pot.  I used a generous sprinkle of sage & cumin, probably a teaspoon of each.  A small amount of tumeric, it doesn't take much, and 3 bay leaves.  Give the veggies a good stir, then start stacking the browned chicken right on top of it all.  Don't worry if it's a tight fit, we are going to reduce the volume of things in there significantly in a little while.


Then add 1-2 quarts of cold water, and sit the lid on your pot so it can all simmer for about 30 minutes.  This time, we do want to cook the chicken all the way through.  Leave your heat on low to medium setting so it can get a good simmer.

NO STIRRING!  Walk away

After the chicken and veggies have simmered for about half an hour, use a pair of tongs and fish all the pieces of chicken out and put them on a big platter to cool. You could leave it as it is, but I prefer to take all the bones and skin out.

Next, use a slotted spoon, and fish out all of the veggies and the bay leaves.  Bay leaves can actually cut you if you try to eat them! You can add back in some of the veggies if you like, but we don't usually care for it that way.  Make sure you leave as much of the broth as possible in the pot!





Use a couple of forks to start picking the chicken apart.  You can also dive in with your fingers as it cools.  This is my preferred method once it's cool enough to handle.  Don't neglect the neck and back pieces of the bird. There are some good hunks of meat on there!  Also, if using your fingers, you can get a better idea of the pieces that are good to eat, and the ones that are just not meant to go in your mouth.















Once all of the chicken has been picked over, you can throw it back in the pot.  Today, I wanted to leave the carrots in.

Om nom nom!

Next, put in your can of cream of celery soup.  I know, weird, but trust me!  Let the pot simmer while you make the dumplins.

You will have to forgive the lack of pictures in the next steps, cuz I get messy with flour, and no one else was home to take them for me.

In a medium bowl, put in 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of baking powder.  Get a small cup of ice water.  I don't know why it has to be ice water, but it just does, and a tablespoon.  Use your fingers and mix the salt and powder in to the flour. Then, put about 2 tablespoons of ice water in the middle of the flour and blend it into a small ball with your fingers.  Gradually add in a few tablespoons of ice water at a time, and just keep making your dough ball bigger, working until you have a big dense ball of stiff dough.  It is *not* supposed to be sticky.

Now, for most things, I am a firm believer in using a large glass if you don't have a rolling pin.  For this, you need a rolling pin.  As I said, this is a heavy, dense ball of dough.  Put plenty of flour on the counter top, and put your dough ball in the middle of it.  Sprinkle some more flour on top.  Now get out your muscles and rolling pin and start working.  It will take some work.  It's surprisingly elastic, but you can get it worked out to about 1/8 inch thickness.

Make sure your broth is gently bubbling, but not really boiling.  Using a pizza cutter, cut your dough into strips, and then cut the strips in to smaller pieces.  I do not suggest you leave them longer than a few inches.  Drop the dumplins in to the bubbling broth, one at a time.  They will sink.  As they cook, they will start to float.






Now, here is a key:  if you need to, you can gently move some aside with a spoon so that you can get the rest in to the broth, but DO NOT stir them a lot, they will break up, and that is no good.  I actually had to make 2 batches of dumplins to go with all the chicken and broth, but it's ok, it will get eaten at my house.

Let them simmer for about 10 minutes, then get yourself a bowl.  Try to just eat one... it's harder than you might think! You might need to scoop down to get the chicken to go with your dumplins.  It's worth the effort.

















And yes, I know that it's technically "dumplings"  but to me they will always be "dumplins."