Chicken & Dumplings

Directions

1. 1
   For chicken and broth:
2. 2
   Rinse chicken breasts, lay on a plate and season both tops and bottoms with Tonys Seasoning.
3. 3
   In a stock pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat.
4. 4
   Place chicken in pot and brown.
5. 5
   (Turn your vent on, or else the spices will set everyone coughing!)
6. 6
   Once well browned, remove breasts from pot and set aside.
7. 7
   Add diced onion, celery, garlic and optional bell pepper to pot and saute till onions are soft and translucent.
8. 8
   Add water to fill your pot halfway, then put chicken breasts back into the pot.
9. 9
   Bring to a boil, lower heat to simmer.
10. 10
    Add 3 cups of cut up green onion tops and cover.
11. 11
    (Go make your dumpling dough now!)
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    Cook until chicken is VERY tender and you can break each breast apart with a fork.
13. 13
    Break it up well.
14. 14
    Add more water if needed and enough Kitchen Bouquet to darken the broth nicely.
15. 15
    Season to taste with Tonys or kosher salt/fresh ground pepper.
16. 16
    Cover and lower heat to barely a simmer.
17. 17
    While the chicken and broth are simmering, make the dumplings.
18. 18
    Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.
19. 19
    Cut in the butter/Crisco until coarse crumbs form.
20. 20
    Add remaining cup of cut up green union tops and mix in until well distributed.
21. 21
    Add cold water all at once, stirring until dough is formed into a ball.
22. 22
    (If the chicken and broth are not at the final simmer at this point, put dough in a bowl, cover with foil or plastic wrap, and stick in the refrigerator until ready to use.)
23. 23
    When ready to form the dumplings, put ball of dough on a floured surface and pat down or flatten it a bit.
24. 24
    Sprinkle a bit of flour on top and, using a rolling pin, begin rolling it out as thin as you can get it.
25. 25
    Continue sprinkling flour on top of pastry to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin.
26. 26
    This extra flour will help thicken your broth up nicely.
27. 27
    When pastry is nice and thin, take a dinner or butter knife and cut it into medium-sized rectangles/squares.
28. 28
    Remove stock pot lid and adjust the heat (or down as the case may be) so that steam is rising from the broth but it isnt boiling.
29. 29
    Start slowly dropping your dumplings in, scattering them well.
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    Dumplings will initially sink and then float when they are done.
31. 31
    From this point on, DO NOT STIR.
32. 32
    Use a fork to lightly shake through the contents of the pot and continue to add dumplings.
33. 33
    When all dumplings have been dropped in, turn the heat to low, and cover again if not serving immediately.
34. 34
    Serve with candied sweet potatoes (recipe to follow soon) and pistolettes.
35. 35
    Green beans with almonds is a nice addition as well to round out this country meal.
36. 36
    *Note: If you dont want to make your own dumplings, you can find flat dumpling strips in your grocers freezer, usually where the frozen breads, rolls, and biscuits are.
37. 37
    The brand I prefer and have used in a pinch is Mary Bs and this recipe usually calls for at least two of the regular packs or one of the bulk/family size packs.