Chicken and Dumplings

My best friend’s mom taught me how to make this recipe and I have made it the same way every time until yesterday. The only difference was that I pulled the chicken off the bone and put it back. Duh. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that one before.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, bone in

1 Tablespoon Bell’s seasoning (or ground thyme)

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika or a Cajun spice rub (I used Central BBQ dry rub) or smoked paprika (or get creative here)

Olive oil

2 quarts Kitchen Basics chicken stock

4 cups chopped onion

2 cups chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

Bisquick

Buttermilk

1. Pat chicken very dry. Mix spices together and then dry rub chicken with spices.

2. Heat some oil in a medium stockpot and sauté chicken, skin side down first, for four minutes a side. Don’t crowd the chicken, do it in batches if you need to.

3. Cover the chicken with stock and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.

4. Add vegetables and pop a loose lid over top. Let simmer 10 - 15 minutes while you make the dumplings.

5. Mix bisquick and buttermilk to a very thick batter consistency or follow bisquick’s dumplings recipe (which uses regular milk, which is fine).

6. Canele dumplings into simmering soup carefully, until the entire top of the soup is covered with dumpling batter. Place a lid loosely over top and allow dumplings to steam for 10 minutes or until done. (No sticky dough).

7. Turn off the heat and let cool a bit. 20 minutes. This will help the dumplings stay together. Then scoop out the dumplings and place in a bowl. Pull out the chicken and place in a separate bowl. Let cool 20 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

8. Pull chicken skin off, discard. Then pull chicken meat off the bone entirely, and roughly shred. You will want some chunks. Stir chicken back into soup and salt to taste. Gently fold in dumplings and reheat the whole thing to serving temperature. Serve more than warm but less than simmering.

bon appetit