Chicken and Dumplings is like a slow grinding blues song. First you just like it, then you can't help but get into it, and pretty soon all you can think about is wanting more.
I lived way out in the country on a dirt road beside my Grandparents' farm and next door to my other set of Grandparents. Both Grandmothers cooked a lot, their kitchens always steamed with bubbling pots of stew or canning jars filled with jam or tomatoes. There wasn't a lot of money in those homes, it wasn't anything like the movie "The Help", and when folks made food it was generally shared with a bunch of neighbors with no regard to much else than who needed it.
I guess when I mixed the feel I get from Chicken and Dumplings, the memories of the South, and how the food brought people together (even in the midst of poverty, tension and growing pains), it just felt like Jazzy Blues.
I'll post the video, but if they have to take it down - here's the link, too:
If I Can't Sell It, I'm Gonna Sit On It, Cuz I Sure Ain't Giving It Away :D
RECIPE: Chicken and Dumplings Roxie Waller Style
1 (3-4 pound) Whole Chicken (farm raised preferred)
1 Carrot (chopped)
1 Celery Stalk (chopped)
1 Onion (chopped)
1 Bay leaf
salt/pepper
*optional - pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
(Dumplings)
1 cup Flour
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon salt, pinch of pepper
1 Tablespoon Crisco (melted) or you can use Bacon Fat
1/3 cup Buttermilk
2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Parsley
1) Place whole chicken in a large pot with the chopped carrot, celery, onion and bay leaf. Cover completely with water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours til chicken is tender and fall off the bone good. (Make the dumplings while the chicken is cooking.)
2) Skim the broth, then remove the pot from the heat. Using a fork, remove the chicken meat from the bones and hold to the side in a dish.
3) Strain the broth and discard the vegetables, then return the broth and the chicken to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and optional red pepper flakes.
4) Bring to a simmer and place the dumplings into the pot, also. Cook at a low simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stir occasionally. Season, to taste and serve in bowls.
Recipe: Dumplings
1) In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
2) In another bowl, whisk together the melted shortening (fat) and buttermilk.
3) Using a fork, combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and add the chopped parsley. Continue until mixed and starting to hold together. (If you need more moisture, add ice water just a Tablespoon at a time.)
4) Using your hands, press the dough together and remove to a lightly floured board. Knead for only about 5-6 times. Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into long pieces, about 1 inch by 2 inches or your preference. Hold until you add them to the Chicken broth.
Check out all these fun Music and Food posts from my Lets Lunch buddies around the world:
Cowgirl Chef's Tiger Cakes (and a really sexy song)
Monday Morning Cooking Club (Hawaiian treat)
HotCurries and Cold Beer - (tribute to her dad with a song)
Burnt Out Baker - (rock and roll in the house)
GeoFooding - (a very fun video about One Meatball)
Grongar Blog (You can Polka while the Kishke bakes )
More to be added - check back often :D
4 comments:
What a great story and a wonderful recipe...as always. You never disappoint. Just reading your story took me back to my childhood in Texas...we grew up at the same time, and my mother used to make the most incredible chicken and dumplings. Now I'm totally in the mood. Thank you for taking me back home. Hope you're feeling better! xx
Love it! Chicken & dumplings are one of my favorite comfort foods and I love the way you brought in blues, and your childhood.
Will definitely be trying the recipe soon :)
What a great post, Cathy! Music is always an inspiration for me, and I grew up with my mother who could pick up any tune and play piano just by instinct (I, on the other hand, went to piano school for eight years:)
I love chicken and dumplings and have been looking for a really good and tested recipe (my husband is from the South - Georgia_, but his mother was not a great cook and he cannot offer any input, except to tel me if he likes it or not:)
I love our Serbian Chicken Paprikash (influenced by the proximity and a long rule of Austro-Hungarian Empire over a big part of the country) made with dumplings and I hear the call of the comfort food:)
Yum! I just made some chicken and dumplings this weekend to help fend off a cold. Great post!
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