Chicken & Dumplings

Its a lot like chicken pot pies, its a creamy chicken-y stew... pot pies have a lot more veggies. this one usually wants veggies on the side. But then there are the dumplings... the part we all love the most. these squishy dough-y dumplings swimming in a creamy chicken bath of love.  That was the part thats the most important. I've never gotten the frozen ones, so I have no idea if they are any good... its too easy to just make them myself, and then I know whats in them ;)

Now, I have a vegetarian boyfriend, this mean that I need to always think of the adaptations to cater to what he would be able to have, so I would add a bunch more veggies, all veggie broth and the dumplings... just big chunks of veggies like broccoli, carrot, mushroom, celery and potato.

Let's get this going.

Mirepoix: carrots, onion, celery.  Soften in some butter and oil, a fine dice - I usually throw them in the processor and let them get fairly small, this way they cook down and the non-veggie eaters of the house are none the wiser, but the vitamins are still present! Garlic is going to be your decision, some people like it more than others, and you've already used an aromatic, so its going to be a matter of taste.  Add garlic if you want now and keep sauteing... Now, 1/4- 1/2 cup of flour in next to get everything nice and thick, thin with low sodium chicken broth and milk or 1/2 & 1/2, cater to your diet needs...add your large can of cream of chicken soup and some fresh thyme if you can - otherwise dry will do.

SECRET!- want it to be a little more yellow for the kids? with that "authentic chicken color"? ;) add about 1/2 tsp of Tumeric, its good for you and it makes it very pretty.

Now, you could have started by cooking your chicken in the broth you are using (poaching it) or you could sautee it in the pan, pull it out and then throw the mirepoix in, getting the bits off the bottom. Or roast in on the bone, and pull it off.  Use canned, if you can stomach it. Boil it whole. Do whatever is handiest for you.

At some point you have to make the dumplings. I use this recipe and its always perfect.

1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp. veg shortening - now there is this YouTube cook named "frietasex" who used (brilliantly) some of the fat from the top of his refrigerated chicken stock in his dumplings, which obviously would give it a better flavor, but I'm not one to cook things the day ahead and keep that around, but perhaps it might be worth it to make some fatty stock and cool it just to collect and freeze that solid fat love.
3/4 c. buttermilk  (what do i do with the rest of it? well, you could have marinated the chicken in it the night before - but you didn't so, save whats left and use it to marinate your next chicken meal, specifically BBQ or Southern Fried over night with some seasonings and hot sauce)

Bowl. Dry ingredients, mix. add the fat, and pinch out until crumbly, then add wet. mix and roll out to about 1/4 inch. You will have to do this in batches and flour everything generously. Cut into 2" squares (don't be too perfect about it), or however you like them.  Add these into the bubbly chicken soupy-stew give it a good stir and put the lid on it. let it cook for about 10-12 minutes and add the chicken, stir again, cover and let cook another 5 minutes.

I like to add a can of drained corn and a can of drained peas at this point - which to purists are a no-no- but whatever you enjoy, throw in. Or not.

Stir around and its done. All is hot and ready at this point.

Turn the heat off, carefully remove the lid, and ladle into bowls.

I double this recipe when I cook for six and there is always left overs, and I think it works just fine as leftovers in the microwave as long as you don't over-zap it and mix it every so often.

the lore of the chicken and dumplings:

but this isn't how I make mine, and my dumplings never fall apart. just look at them!

Beef Stroganoff

Meat and mushroom gravyness - this is prior to sour cream, and before its bed of wide egg noodles and peas hat. You can see the quartered bella at the top, beef and then a sliced white mushroom at the bottom.

"History:  Elena Molokhovets' classic Russian cookbook (1861) gives the first known recipe for Govjadina po-strogonovski, s gorchitseju "Beef à la Stroganov, with mustard" which involves lightly floured beef cubes (not strips) sautéed, sauced with prepared mustard and bouillon, and finished with a small amount of sour cream: no onions, no mushrooms. An 1890 competition is sometimes mentioned in the dish's history, but both the recipe and the name existed before then. A 1912 recipe adds onions and tomato paste, and serves it with crisp potato straws, which are considered the traditional side dish in Russia. The version given in the 1938 Larousse Gastronomique includes beef strips, and onions, with either mustard or tomato paste optional.

After the fall of Imperial Russia, the recipe was popularly served in the hotels and restaurants of China before the start of the Second World War. Russian and Chinese immigrants, as well as U.S. servicemen stationed in pre-Communist China, brought several variants of the dish to the United States, which may account for its popularity during the 1950s. It came to Hong Kong in the late fifties, with Russian restaurants and hotels serving the dish with rice, but not sour cream. In the version often prepared in the USA today in restaurants and hotels, it consists of strips of beef filet with a mushroom, onion, and sour cream sauce, and is served over rice or pasta."

-thank you Wikipedia

This is a gross story, but its important to the recipe.

When I was pregnant with my oldest son, I was living in a small town in South Carolina where the -other- Triple Crown is every year.  I was over nine months, now...any woman who has given birth understands that its really 10 months..its the end of the ninth month that you give birth, and I was past my due date. I went to have dinner at my then husbands' grandparents house, Beef Stroganoff, something I certainly did -not- grow up eating. It was made with ground beef and was not bad, but not hamburger helper version.  After we ate we left and went to a Walmart, and I ended up getting VERY sick, and making a big mess of things, and was miserable. its hard to vomit over a large belly when you -have- to be on the commode :P  Needless to say, I was not able to ever even consider the thought of eating that again until 10 years later.  I believe my roommate made it, or something and i really did enjoy it... so worked on perfecting my recipe for it.

I am proud of what its ended up as, and hope you explore your own version.

serves 4-5 good eaters.

2 lbs chuck or bottom round beef  (marked stew meat)
2 medium sweet onions
1 large package common mushrooms (brushed of all dirt)
1 small package baby bellas (cleaned and quartered)
4 cloves of garlic
1-2 cartons beef stock , or 1 beef and 1 vegetable
1 cup red wine (merlot is what i choose) (more if you choose to)
medium container of sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional really, but it does add to the flavor)
browning sauce or gravy master
1/2 tsp. paprika (to taste)
salt and pepper
approx 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour or substitute
1/4- 1/2 c. vegetable oil

I'm sure you can figure out how to put it together, but here it goes.

Cube up your meat. salt and pepper them cubes. chuck in a cup of that flour and toss until they are all coated, then set them aside.

In your processor or chopper, throw in the onions, garlic and about 1/2 the common mushrooms, and process all up. Heat a pan on medium, add a bit of oil and sautee the mix, with salt and pepper, until its all nice and soft. but not yet browning. Remove to a plate.

Reheat pan, add the rest of the oil to the pan, get nice and hot. Drop in cubes of meat one at a time and leave alone until you can see some browning action,  If you need to do it in batches, thats ok too. just deglaze the pan with some of the broth and save that liquid.  Once all the meat is seared, remove to a bowl, leaving the oil in the pan, if all has been absorbed then add just a touch more.

Add the rest of the mushrooms to the hot pan and sauteed briefly, seasoning them, before adding the veggies back to the pan. Sprinkle in the rest of the flour and scrape up any bit on the bottom of the pan, cook for 1-2- minutes. Add the meat back to the pan, and then add in the red wine and cook bubbling for a minute or two. stirring.  Add in all your stock and let simmer for at least an hour, two is even better...add more stock or water as needed.

This is where I check for seasoning, and make sure its just slightly salty. Adding the browning sauce first about 2 table spoons worth, and then salt and pepper.

Once the meat is falling apart (feel free to test until you are happy with the texture) turn the heat down to very low, and add in first the heavy cream, if you opt to and then the sour cream, stir, check for seasoning and bring up to hot again.

Serve over cooked wide egg noodles and we throw in a drained can of peas at the end in ours too.

happy eating.