No doubt I’ve posted about this before, but this IS one of my comfort foods, so here it is again:
Chicken and dumplings.
If I have chicken bones, I make my own stock by cooking the bones and chunks of onion, carrots, and celery, either for a long time on the stove or for half an hour at pressure in the Instant Pot. Then I drain it, let it cool, and pick the chicken off the bones (I generally leave some meat on the bones).
If you have some chicken already off the bone, put that in with the strained broth, add sliced carrots, sliced celery, and more onions. I generally add some fresh sage and rosemary and whatever fresh herbs I feel like adding.
I used to make dumplings out of biscuit dough, for fluffy dumplings, but my husband’s family like what they call “slicks”, so now I buy Reames Flat Dumplings and add them to the broth and cook it all following the Reames package directions. If you can make slicks, by all means make your own. I haven’t got the touch.
Oh — salt and pepper to taste. I like it peppery.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: When family recipes collide.
MA
Dan Antion
July 6, 2021 at 8:04amPeppery is good for me. It looks delish.
Marian Allen
July 6, 2021 at 11:23amAsk The Editor to make some, when the weather is cooler.
RAAckerman@Cerebrations.biz
July 6, 2021 at 12:27pmI never knew dumplings were a heap of dough. Thanks for the education.
Marian Allen
July 6, 2021 at 1:41pmThere are about a bazillion kinds of dumplings. Maybe it’s just Depression-era dumplings that are heaps of dough.
acflory
July 7, 2021 at 7:04amI make something vaguely similar but throw in frozen peas and lots of chopped parsley. And pepper. 🙂 The dumplings I make are really just ‘nokedli’ – the small dumplings that traditionally go with goulash. Plain flour, 1 egg, a tiny bit of salt and a bit of water to make a dough that can be pushed through a dumpling maker. For soup I put it straight in with everything else just before serving. One of my favourite meals as well.
Marian Allen
July 7, 2021 at 1:15pmSounds wonderful! What’s a dumpling maker?
acflory
July 8, 2021 at 12:28amThe simplest dumpling maker is just a flat ‘pan’ with big holes in it – much much bigger than a colander. You sit it on top of a pot of boiling water, throw in some of the dough and push it through the holes. I actually got the one I’m using now from Amazon. Let me see if I can find a link to it.
acflory
July 8, 2021 at 12:30amHere it is!
https://www.amazon.com/nokedli-maker/s?k=nokedli+maker
Marian Allen
July 8, 2021 at 8:39amCool! Thanks!
acflory
July 9, 2021 at 5:37amEasy to use and goes into the dishwasher. 😉
Gail M Baugniet
July 7, 2021 at 3:40pmTalk about comfort food, Marian! My mother always made baking powder dumplings for her home-made chicken soup. She and Dad raised chickens so chicken soup with dumplings was a weekly meal. Her potato dumplings steamed with the sauerkraut and spare ribs were “to die for” delicious. Good memories. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Marian Allen
July 8, 2021 at 8:36amMmmm, I just finished breakfast, and I’m drooling!