When I was younger, I remember frequently heading over to my grandmother's house for a huge family dinner. There were often several main courses - hamburger steaks, lasagna, ham, chicken pot pie . . . or at least what I thought was chicken pot pie.
When pastry strips are added to a pot of chicken with stock, most folks refer to that as Chicken and Dumplings. Not my family, oh no siree. They call that Chicken Pot Pie. When asked what she called an actual Chicken Pot Pie (chicken and vegetables in a sauce, covered with a crust and baked in the oven LIKE A PIE!), a certain member of my family had no response because she 'would never eat that'.
To further complicate matters, Rj seems to think of Chicken and Dumplings as a chicken, veggie, sauce mix with biscuits dropped on top. I call that Chicken and Biscuits. What I call Chicken and Dumplings, Rj calls Chicken Noodle Soup. I tried to explain to him that those aren't noodles, but I quickly gave up.
Why the hell is this so complicated?
Not at all complicated was Paula Dean's recipe for Homemade Chicken and Dumplings.
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken:
1 (2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 qt water
1 can cream of celery soup
Dumplings:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 c ice water
Place chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and 4 qt of water in a large stock pot. Cook over medium heat until juices from chicken run clear, approximately 45 minutes.
Remove chicken from pot, cool enough for handling, remove the bones and skin from the chicken and return the meat to the pot.
Stir in can of cream of celery soup.
To make dumplings, stir together flour and salt. Slowly drizzle ice water into the mixture, combining with your fingers. After all water has been added, knead the dough and form into a ball. On a well floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8th inch thick. Allow the dough to rest for a few minutes.
Cut a 1 inch piece of dough and drop into the pot. Repeat for the remaining dough, working slowly so that the dumplings don't get stuck together.
Do not stir the pot with a spoon while the dumplings are cooking. Gently swirl the pot instead.
Allow the dumplings to cook, approximately 5 minutes.
This is a 'crowd' sized recipe, which makes 6-8 servings if you're having it as the main portion of your meal. I cut the recipe in half when I made it because I was using several pieces of chicken instead of an entire chicken and because I don't own a pot large enough to hold a whole chicken with 4 quarts of water added to it. Instead of only adding half a can of the cream of celery soup, I threw in the whole thing because I was really going for a creamy broth. I wouldn't have changed a thing either.
When pastry strips are added to a pot of chicken with stock, most folks refer to that as Chicken and Dumplings. Not my family, oh no siree. They call that Chicken Pot Pie. When asked what she called an actual Chicken Pot Pie (chicken and vegetables in a sauce, covered with a crust and baked in the oven LIKE A PIE!), a certain member of my family had no response because she 'would never eat that'.
To further complicate matters, Rj seems to think of Chicken and Dumplings as a chicken, veggie, sauce mix with biscuits dropped on top. I call that Chicken and Biscuits. What I call Chicken and Dumplings, Rj calls Chicken Noodle Soup. I tried to explain to him that those aren't noodles, but I quickly gave up.
Why the hell is this so complicated?
Not at all complicated was Paula Dean's recipe for Homemade Chicken and Dumplings.
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken:
1 (2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 qt water
1 can cream of celery soup
Dumplings:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 c ice water
Place chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and 4 qt of water in a large stock pot. Cook over medium heat until juices from chicken run clear, approximately 45 minutes.
Remove chicken from pot, cool enough for handling, remove the bones and skin from the chicken and return the meat to the pot.
Stir in can of cream of celery soup.
To make dumplings, stir together flour and salt. Slowly drizzle ice water into the mixture, combining with your fingers. After all water has been added, knead the dough and form into a ball. On a well floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8th inch thick. Allow the dough to rest for a few minutes.
Cut a 1 inch piece of dough and drop into the pot. Repeat for the remaining dough, working slowly so that the dumplings don't get stuck together.
Do not stir the pot with a spoon while the dumplings are cooking. Gently swirl the pot instead.
Allow the dumplings to cook, approximately 5 minutes.
This is a 'crowd' sized recipe, which makes 6-8 servings if you're having it as the main portion of your meal. I cut the recipe in half when I made it because I was using several pieces of chicken instead of an entire chicken and because I don't own a pot large enough to hold a whole chicken with 4 quarts of water added to it. Instead of only adding half a can of the cream of celery soup, I threw in the whole thing because I was really going for a creamy broth. I wouldn't have changed a thing either.
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