Chicken & Dumplings

This was super and tasty and I can't wait to make it again.

I didn't have a recipe, so what I have here is the best I can remember. Hope it makes sense.

In a medium kettle, I bought 1 can of chicken broth and two cans worth of water to a boil, to which I added two boullion cubes, 'veggie' cubes. I didn't have much at home, but I did have onions and carrots and fresh thyme. So...to the broth, I added an onion-chopped, carrots-chopped and some fresh thyme. I added some bay leaves and a few grinds of black pepper. Once this all was simmering, I added two boneless, skinless, chicken breasts.

Once this is going, you can leave it alone and walk away for a bit.

For more of the finished product, I took a second onion and chopped that into a medium dice, chopped a few handfuls of baby carrots into medium dice, and a shallot into a fine dice. Set these aside. Also set aside 4 TB of butter and approximately 1/2 cup of flour.

After ten minutes, this broth and your chicken are basically done, but they can go ten minutes long if you want. When it's done, pour it all out through a strainer, reserving the broth. Pick out the chicken breasts and discard the remaining bits and pieces.

Return your kettle back to the stove and over medium high heat, melt your butter. Add your onions and the shallots. Stir and lightly saute until they begin to turn translucent. Stirring the onions, add the flour until a paste forms and all the butter is absorbed. This is your roux! Gently stir and continue to stir for two to three minutes. This will cook out the floury, pastey taste. At this point, carefully and slowly add the broth back, stirring constantly. You might get some lumps at first, but they will dissolve quickly. In short order, you will have a rich, smooth, creamy broth.

Add the carrots. Dice the chicken breasts and add that into the pot. Let this all simmer over low heat while you prepare your dumplings. Oh, and add 1 TB of dry sherry if you have it!

In a medium bowl or your food processor add 1 cup flour, 1/2 stick of butter-COLD, 1/2 cup COLD water, 1 TB baking powder, 1/2 TB salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Give this a quick whirl until it looks like coarse corn meal, if in the food processor. If you are mixing in a bowl, mix with a pastry blender or your hands, mixing the butter and flour, making a quick dough. When it all pulls together, pull out onto the counter and give it a few quick kneads. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut into 1 inch strips. Drop the dumplings into the pot and cover for ten minutes.

Serve big fat ladlefuls into the bowls and enjoy.

The instructions sound hard and indepth, but really it's not. It was easy and really comforting.