Chicken and Dumplings

This recipe reminds me of one my gramma used to make.  We always had Sunday dinner at my gramma's house and this was one of my favorite dishes. This is not her actual recipe, but it was still close enough to make me homesick.

Perfect for a cold winters day, this dish firmly falls in the "comfort food" category.  Chicken soup topped with big fluffy dumplings that have steamed to perfection.  You just can't ask for more than that in my opinion.

I live in the South now, and they make their dumplings completely different here.  Totally delicious but totally different. The dumplings here are basically flat, wide pieces of pasta that are cooked inside of the soup so they sort of float around in there.  I also have a recipe for that sort of chicken and dumplings posted on this site but this recipe is the one that brings back memories for me.

Chicken and Dumplings

Recipe from jocooks.com

Ingredients

Dumplings:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 whole egg, beaten
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp chives, chopped
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Chicken Soup:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 large celery stalk, chopped
• 1/2 tsp dry thyme
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups roasted chicken, shredded. (Any part of the chicken will work, an assortment of both dark and light meat will add nice flavor)

Cooking Directions

1. In a large dutch oven or stock pot add the oil and then add the carrots, celery and onion. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the onion becomes translucent.
2. Add the thyme and chicken broth. 
3. In a small dish, whisk together a label full of broth and the flour.  Pour the mixture back into the pot and whisk to make sure there are no lumps. 
4. Add the frozen peas and the shredded chicken. 
5. Season with salt and pepper. Let simmer to thicken, while you make the dumplings. 
6. Place all the dumpling ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine.  Do not over mix or the dumplings will be too dense. 
7. Dollop the dough onto the soup, keep in mind that the dumplings will double in size. I used a large tablespoon, perhaps 1/4 cup. 
8. Cover the pot and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Do not remove the top to check on them or it'll flatten your dumplings. Test them for doneness by using a toothpick inserted in the middle of the dumpling to come out clean.