Maw Maws Chicken And Dumplings Food

CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS~~WEST VIRGINIA STYLE

Steps:

• 1. COOKING THE CHICKEN: In a dutch oven or another large covered pot, put the chicken & enough water to cover. The amount of chicken you cook is totally a matter of personal preference. Simmer of LOW heat for about 45 minutes, COVERED, until the chicken easily separates with a fork. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool. If you used chicken with bones, you may need to strain the chicken broth into a bowl, rinse out the pot, then return the broth to the pot to avoid getting little pieces of bone in your food. I also feel the need to remove any pieces of fat left behind. When the chicken is cooled enough, cut or tear it off the bones into smaller pieces and return it to the broth. Throw away the skin, too. No time to cook? Buy a cooked rotisserie chicken at the grocery store, bring it home, and take at least half of the meat off the bone. You'll probably need about THREE cans of chicken broth to heat up in the pot.
• 2. Now look at the chicken pieces in broth. If you cooked the chicken with skin, the broth is probably rich enough. If you just cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, there is probably very little chicken flavoring to the broth. In this case, add a can or two of chicken broth. The broth should cover the chicken with another inch above. Add a little more water, if needed. Heat to boiling over medium-low heat.
• 3. MAKING THE DUMPLINGS: While the broth is heating up, make the biscuit dough. If you're using my biscuit recipe, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and parsley in a medium bowl. Cut in the Crisco with a pastry cutter or my favorite large meat fork from my silverware set. When the flour, etc... resembles small gravel, make a "well" and slowly add the milk, stirring until you have a soft dough. Let it rest while waiting for the broth to boil. Short on time or supplies? Make dumplings using the recipe from the Bisquick box. OR thaw out frozen biscuits and cut into quarters. OR whomp that can of biscuits and use those. We won't tell. =^..^=
• 4. Add salt & pepper, if desired, and stir the chicken off the bottom of the pot one last time. Then drop the biscuit dough into the boiling broth using a heaping regular tablespoon. Repeat until all the biscuit dough is in the broth. NO MORE STIRRING ONCE THE DUMPLINGS ARE IN THE BROTH!
• 5. Leaving the contents of the pot on a slow simmer, set the timer for 10 minutes. Cook UNCOVERED.
• 6. At the end of 10 minutes, COVER the pot and cook 10 minutes more.
• 7. Serve the chicken & dumplings immediately. Serving suggestion: in West Virginia, this dish is often ladled over a mound of mashed potatoes, with a side of homemade applesauce or cranberry jelly. =^..^=

MAW-MAW'S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• 1. Cut hen into pieces: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 breasts. Keep other parts to let them stew in the broth.
• 2. Chop onion, celery, and parsley. These will be added later.
• 3. In a medium-high dutch oven put in oil and then flour, stir to combine. This step is very important to NEVER walk away from the pot. Using a wooden spoon, continually stir flour and oil mixture in a figure 8 motion. You are making a roux and you need to get it to the color of peanut butter. Stir continually until you get that color.
• 4. Once roux is the perfect color, then add celery and onions and a teaspoon of salt. Stir to combine and let it sweat for a minute or so.
• 5. Add chicken broth and pieces of hen to pot. Use water if necessary to cover the hen. Add slat and pepper to taste.
• 6. Let this stew on medium-low heat for approximately an hour, until hen is tender. A hen takes time to cook and become tender.
• 7. Once hen is done, I usually remove the meat from the bones. Discard the bones and keep meat warm.
• 8. Mix pioneer baking mix to drop biscuit recipe for dumplings. Bring broth to a boil. Drop about 4-5 tablespoons of drop biscuit mix in broth, put on cover. Wait about 3 minutes before removing cover. Dumplings should be big and fluffy.
• 9. Remove dumplings that are done, keep in a corning ware with cover. Repeat step 8 until dough is used. You may need to add more water to broth, as the dumplings will soak it up as they cook.
• 10. Finally, after all dumplings are done, add chopped parsley to broth, you may want to return the hen meat to warm through again. Serve over rice with dumplings on the side.

SOUTHWEST CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Melt butter in the bottom of a large heavy saucepan. Saute onions in butter until tender.
• Stir in flour and cook to create a light roux.
• Slowly stir in chicken broth, then add remaining ingredients.
• The flour tortillas will take a while to start absorbing the liquid and become dumpling-like. Simmer for at least two hours until tortillas become swollen and soft, replacing liquid with water or chicken broth as it evaporates and is soaked up by the tortillas. I usually start mine about 2:00 in the afternoon and let it simmer for several hours until dinner.

MAW MAW'S THANKSGIVING DRESSING

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 350F.
• In a very large mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs, crumbled cornbread, crumbled biscuits, yellow onions, celery, green onions, fresh parsley, sage, salt and pepper.
• Toss well.
• Add melted butter and eggs; mix.
• Add chicken broth, a little at a time, mixing lightly, but well.
• Add enough broth to make mixture extra moist.
• Place mixture into a well-greased baking dish.
• Bake about 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.
• ~NOTE~This can be made ahead of time by mixing everything together, placing it in the well-greased baking dish, covering with foil, and refrigerating.
• To bake, remove from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
• Then, remove foil and bake for about 45 minutes.

MAMAW'S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• 1. In a large pot add whole chicken, celery, onion and garlic. Add water 4 inches above and boil until chicken is cooked thru. I skim the fat from the top of the water.I taste the stock and add chicken stock paste 1 tbsp at a time to taste (if needed) Remove all veggies and chicken. Debone chicken,add Chicken back to stock. My kids do not like the veggies so I remove them and add them to my bowl,otherwise you can dice them prior to adding to the stock for cooking and leave 'em in!
• 2. In a bowl, combine flour,(**OPTIONAL** mix in rosemary and dill for the more "grown up" version) and shortening..I use Crisco. mix together with a fork or pastry cutter(DO NOT OVERWORK), then add buttermilk to form a doughy consistency. (Should be somewhat crumbly, almost like a crisp topping)
• 3. flour a flat work space and roll out dough about 3/8 of an inch and let the kiddies go crazy with the cookie cutters! Drudge each piece thru raw all purpose flour and drop into boiling broth and chicken turn fire down to a simmer and cook till tender...about 2 hours until good-n-creamy. finish with 1/4 stick real butter ***if you aren't including the kiddies you can just pat out with your fingers...***
• 4. Plate as is in a bowl with a piece of garlic bread, or over egg noodles or mashed potatoes!