Its raining in Seattle......S'PRISE! So, today 's recipe is perfect for a cold, squishy day. Pre WWII Chicken and Dumplings (for two). Total cooking time 2 hours ...... This is a pre instant gratification food, and well worth the wait! If you have a few extra people around the table and need a little more... just use a bigger chicken, a bigger pot and add more vegetables.
You will need for this:
1 small cornish hen
1 medium onion
4 medium carrots
1 cup diced celery (optional)
1/2 tsp sage
2 tbs parsley (4 tbs if using fresh parsley)
1 tsp rosemary
salt
pepper
Put the whole chicken in an 8 quart pot of water with the herbs and the onion (quartered). Add a little salt and pepper (tasting throughout the cooking process is mandatory so only add a little salt at a time) Bring to a low boil for about 40 to 45 minutes. If chicken is frozen when you put it in.... boiling will take about an hour. At 45-ish minutes, take chicken out of pot and put on plate to cool for about 5 minutes. When cool enough to touch, pull all chicken meat off bone and put chicken meat back into pot. Add carrots and celery at this time and bring back to a low boil for about thirty minutes or until carrots are done. Your liquid will probably boil down a couple of times during this process so just add more water when needed. When the carrots and celery are done, drop the temperature from low boil to a simmer... drop in your dumplings and put a lid on the pot.. Let them cook for 10 minutes covered and then uncover and cook for 10 more minutes.
How do you make dumplings?
From Great Grannys 100 year old biscuit recipe of course.
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbs fat (yes! grannys recipe says 'fat' because you can use shortening, vegetable oil , butter or in a pinch, bacon grease.... whatever you have handy)
3/4 cup milk
Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and add 'fat'. Mix fat in with a fork until your ingredients are sort of crumbly. Then add milk and mix well. Lay out dough on a piece of floured wax paper. Pat down to about an inch thick. Cut into about 2 inch squares and add to pot. Cook covered for 10 minutes and uncovered for another 10 minutes.
(If you want to make biscuits instead of dumplings just follow the recipe above , cut dough into biscuit rounds, put in a greased, lightly floured pan and cook in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or so.)
Now I'll admit this all sounds labor intensive, but honestly I get in a whole lot of conversing , net surfing, crocheting, telephoning and general puttering-around activity while the cooking process is occurring. And if anyone wants me to do something I don't want to do... I just say 'cant...I'm cooking"
You will need for this:
1 small cornish hen
1 medium onion
4 medium carrots
1 cup diced celery (optional)
1/2 tsp sage
2 tbs parsley (4 tbs if using fresh parsley)
1 tsp rosemary
salt
pepper
Put the whole chicken in an 8 quart pot of water with the herbs and the onion (quartered). Add a little salt and pepper (tasting throughout the cooking process is mandatory so only add a little salt at a time) Bring to a low boil for about 40 to 45 minutes. If chicken is frozen when you put it in.... boiling will take about an hour. At 45-ish minutes, take chicken out of pot and put on plate to cool for about 5 minutes. When cool enough to touch, pull all chicken meat off bone and put chicken meat back into pot. Add carrots and celery at this time and bring back to a low boil for about thirty minutes or until carrots are done. Your liquid will probably boil down a couple of times during this process so just add more water when needed. When the carrots and celery are done, drop the temperature from low boil to a simmer... drop in your dumplings and put a lid on the pot.. Let them cook for 10 minutes covered and then uncover and cook for 10 more minutes.
How do you make dumplings?
From Great Grannys 100 year old biscuit recipe of course.
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbs fat (yes! grannys recipe says 'fat' because you can use shortening, vegetable oil , butter or in a pinch, bacon grease.... whatever you have handy)
3/4 cup milk
Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and add 'fat'. Mix fat in with a fork until your ingredients are sort of crumbly. Then add milk and mix well. Lay out dough on a piece of floured wax paper. Pat down to about an inch thick. Cut into about 2 inch squares and add to pot. Cook covered for 10 minutes and uncovered for another 10 minutes.
(If you want to make biscuits instead of dumplings just follow the recipe above , cut dough into biscuit rounds, put in a greased, lightly floured pan and cook in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or so.)
Now I'll admit this all sounds labor intensive, but honestly I get in a whole lot of conversing , net surfing, crocheting, telephoning and general puttering-around activity while the cooking process is occurring. And if anyone wants me to do something I don't want to do... I just say 'cant...I'm cooking"
Thanks for sharing your great grandmother's dumpling recipe. Once you have a great basic recipe, its amazing how versatile they are by adding other ingredients.
ReplyDeleteAnna
http://annastable.blogspot.com
You are welcome and I agree. And thanks for sharing your blog. I'd like to know how you get your tomatoe sauce so deep red. Mine always turns out tasty but orange-ish.
ReplyDelete