Chicken & Dumplins
Our weather has been miserable and I wanted something to stick to the old bones. I am a soup lover and could eat it everyday and night, however, Mick is not, he will eat it but he barely tolerates it, so as I didn’t feel like eating a whole pot of soup myself I decided on making chicken and dumplins. This is another of Micks not too favorite things (damn the man is picky), he mostly doesn’t like it because of the heavy dumplins in most of these type dishes. I make mine differently and he actually likes this dish the way I make it.
Chicken and Dumplins
4 large boneless chicken breasts cut into large pieces
1 medium onion diced fine
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons oil
6-7 cups strong chicken broth
Pasta dough, made fresh
In a 4 quart covered saucepan heat the oil, season the chicken with the salt and pepper. When the oil is hot add the chicken in batches and saute it until it takes on a little color, remove it to a plate as it colors and add the rest of the chicken until it is all sauteed. Next add the onions and saute them until they soften, sprinkle on the thyme and saute a little more. Add the chicken pieces back to the pan and mix everything together, add 6 cups of the broth, lower the stove and cover the pan, simmer for about an hour over a low flame while you make the dumplins.
Dumplins
I use one of my pasta machines to roll these out usually, you can also use a rolling pin if you don’t have a pasta machine. Into the food processor place 3 cups of all purpose flour, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and pulse to mix with the flour. With the machine running add 3 jumbo eggs that have been scrambled together, when the dough comes together check the consistancy of it, you may need to add a bit of water if it is too dry or a bit more flour if it is too wet, you don’t want a sticky dough but you also don’t want a crumbily dry dough. Remove the dough from the machine and wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit 1/2 hour. When you are ready place about a cup of flour on the counter and cut the dough into 4 or more portions, cover them with a towel and keep one out to work with. Set your pasta machine to the widest setting, coat the dough in the flour on the counter and run it thru the machine, fold it in half and send it thru again, coat it with flour again if it feels sticky, keep folding and sending it thru the machine until it feels smooth and no longer sticky. Turn the machine down to a thinner setting and send the dough thru again, you shouldn’t have to flour it anymore and don’t fold it anymore. Now decide how thick you would like your dumplins and stop sending the dough thru the machine when you reach that number. Set the rolled out portion to the side to rest while you work on the rest of the portions you have covered. When you are finished with all of them, take the first one you rolled out and cut it into the width of dumplin you would like, use a sharp knife or a pizza wheel for the cutting. After they are all done, turn the heat up a little on the chicken mixture and add the last cup of broth. When it returns to a boil add the dumplins one at a time so they don’t stick together and stir them up once or twice while you are adding them. They should be covered with liquid while they cook, add some water or more broth if you need to. Turn the heat down so they are at a low boil and cover the pan again, cook for about 15 minutes. Add some parsley and serve. If you make your dumplins thick they will take longer than if you like them very thin…………like the picky hubby here does. We had this with some fresh carrots in rosemary/honey butter and some fresh sourdough bread I baked.