Sunday in our family was always the big meal of the week. There was always one big main dish and then several sides that included beans, rice, mashed potoatoes, greens and at least 1 other vegetable. And of course dessert. MawMaw usually stuck to cobblers as they were fairly easy and quick to make and boy did I love her peach cobbler. One of my favorite dishes had always been chicken-n-dumplins. They are easy, although time consuuming, to make. They are the perfect comfort food, or rainy day, or wintry day foo. Hearty and warm and just. . . perfect. It always takes me 2 days to make this and that's how it should be y'all!
Day 1
in a large stock pot place whole chicken (with giblets/kideny/neck removed) in and cover with water. Now you can seaon the water how you see fit with either dried or fresh ingredients. Garlic, onion, carrots, celery, salt & pepper. When I am on a budget I will use garlic & onion powder and salt & pepper. Bring pot to boil and then turn down to a slow simmer. This should simmer for a few hours, you want the chicken cook all the ay through and practically falling off the bone.
Once the chicken is cooked carefully remove it from the pot and place it on a plat to cool. Let both the stock and the chicken cool completley. Once cooled remove all the meat from the bones and put in a storage container, pop it in the fridge. Take the bones and the skin from the chicken and put it back into the stock. Add 1-2 chicken bouillion cubes and season to taste, cooking down on a slow simmer for another few hours. Allow to cool and strain all of the skin & bones out of the stock. Reserve the stock in th fridge.
Day 2
Heat reserved stock on stove to a slow boil. While heating this you can make the dumplins. This is a simple recipe it's just flour (about 2 cups or so) and ice cold water (enough to make a nice dough). When you have a nice firm, non tacky dough you are going to roll out it as flat as possible on a floured surface. The flatter/thinner the dough the better. Sprinkle with more flour and with a pizza cutter cut into 1" wide strips. You'll cut them again to the length you want (mine are generally 2"). sprinkle with more flour and then gently transfer the dumplin strip to the boiling stock. Now this is very important: DO NOT STIR THE DUMPLINS! Just drop them in and leave them, turning the stock down to about med/low. After about 1-2 hours the dumplins should be ready and the stock thickened somewhat (if not you can mix some cornstarch & cold water then pour into the stock), now you can add the pieces of chicken, stir and allow to heat thoroughly. Serve and enjoy :)
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