After moving to Florida and meeting some real "southern folk" I started hearing about this chicken and dumplings stuff. Again-I had heard it before or maybe saw it on the Cracker Barrel menu-but again Mom said it was no good fried dough/fat. So as my friends raved about their mom's making the best Chicken and Dumplings I started to get curious. I asked and prodded and they basically described it like fried chicken with gravy and fried dough...that was OOHHH so good. I didn't buy it. I am such a Yankee; I thought Greens was was a family of colors and Black Eye'd Peas a super sweet hip hop band. I also thought that when you fixin' something you were making it "un-broke". Boy was I wrong. Anyways I've continued to live my life in the "fake south" (I've been told Florida is NOT south) and hold on to my northern ways as best I could. Now back to this whole dumpling story.
We received a very large fry pan as a wedding gift (thanks Rita & Brandon!). So large in fact that it doesn't fit in the cupboards. I have to keep in in the oven! but I love it! Well when i opened up the box there was this recipe card with a yummy looking picture on the front. Chicken and Herb Dumplings. Hmm I thought-that looks good, I've always wondered what a dumpling was. So being newly wife'd I thought let's add that to the list. Adam- a true Yankee himself hadn't had much chicken and dumplings himself so he was game.
I decided to fix the meal on Sunday night. We had had a light lunch after Church and around 6 I figured I should get started. The recipe said something like 20 min here 20 min there....so I'm thinking and hour-tops. I get out the Chicken hindquarters and start skinning them...only cut myself once. Then I had to have Adam come and separate the leg from the thigh. I began browning the chicken....and browning and browning....it took a LONG time. finally i got bored so i started on the next step-the herb dumplings. I found out that the jar of sage i had must have been 7 years old and had began to congeal...so we opted for some rosemary. But this part was easy-mix up some flower, cut in some butter ? Wait cut in? like with scissors? I did the best I could and found a new use for a pizza wheel :) Then it called for Evaporated Skim milk-what! i didn't see that. That was not on the grocery list-so 2% it was. Sure enough it made a dough ball just like the recipe. So back to to the chicken-it was brown enough and i began adding the other ingredients. Oops white wine...we HAD some of that...what about red? sure! So I get all the veggies and chicken and stock in that great big pan and now I'm to my 20 min part...it's now 7 pm. So after 20 min I'm supposed to add the dumplings-8 equal balls-their about the size of a lime. I put them around the pot like the picture, put on the cover and we're told to wait another 20-25 min....with the pan on Low.
Ding! I put in my tooth pick and these dumpling haven't done any cooking! WTF? I look at Adam and say I don't think this is hot enough, I'm hungry. So we crank it up to Med. another 20 min go buy-Ding! Tooth pick comes out clean! And OH MY GOD does it smell good. So it's now a little after 8pm -oh and the squash has been done for like 45 min. (which by the way is from MICHIGAN!) So we sit down and dig in. These Dumplings look a lot like mashed potatoes...but are definitely like a biscuit. But with the chicken and the broth and the vegetables it was all REALLY GOOD!! ( I won't mention that Adam had to nuke his chicken...to get rid of some red oops). We had even had a couple of servings. So I did it! A Yankee made Chicken and Dumplings!
When I got to work on Monday I was raving about it in the lunch room...and my bubble was quickly burst. As I described my meal the guys looked perplexed. They said I had some fancy recipe and that REAL Chicken and Dumplings was different-then they went on to explain what I always imagined...gross.
Oh well-so what. I liked it-my Yankee version of Chicken and Dumplings and I will make them again-but I will start a lot earlier.
So here is the recipe if any of you want to try a truly yummy, non southern Chicken & Dumplings. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Chicken:2 1/2 - 3 pounds assorted chicken pieces, skin removed if desired
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 Tbls. vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
6 ounces large mushrooms, quartered
4 medium carrots, washed and peeled, cut on a diagonal into 1 1/2 " slices
1 tsp dried sage ( I used Rosemary)
3 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry, white wine (I used Red Wine)
Herb Dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried dill weed
5 Tbls. butter
2 Tbls. chopped parsley
2 Tbls. chopped chives (I didn't have any)
1 cup evaporated skim milk ( I used regular milk)
Directions
Chicken:Rinse chicken and pat dry. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Preheat a 5 qt. Saucier over medium heat until the rim of the pan is hot-to-the-touch. Add the oil and allow to heat for another minute. Add the chicken, about half at a time; cook, turning as needed until brown on all sides. As the chicken is browned, remove it from the pan and set aside. Pour off all but 1 Tbls. of the oil and fat in the pan. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring often until lightly browned (3 - 5 minutes). Add carrots and sage and return the chicken to the pan on top of the vegetables. Pour in broth and wine. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Herb Dumplings:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and dried dill weed. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut 5 Tbls. of firm butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal. Mix in the chopped herbs gently. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the evaporated milk. Incorporate the milk and flour with a fork until the dough forms a ball.
Final assembly and cooking:
Skim and discard the fat from the chicken preparation. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drop dumpling dough over chicken in 8 equal portions over the surface of the chicken, spacing slightly apart. Cover and continue to cook until dumplings are firm to-the-touch and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 20 - 25 minutes).
No comments:
Post a Comment