Slow Simmer Chicken And Dumplins

Total Time: 3 hrs 35 mins Preparation Time: 35 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 quarts water
• 32 ounces chicken broth
• 1 (3 -4 lb) broiler-fryer chickens, cut up into about 6 pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, cut into chunks
• 2 carrots, cut up into chunks
• 1 garlic clove, peeled & quartered
• 1 large bay leaf
• 4 -6 whole fresh parsley leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper (more if you like)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (about 1/2 of a fresh lemon)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons milk

Recipe

• 1 in a large pot, bring chicken broth liquid to a boil. add chicken, plus 1 tsp of salt & onion, celery, bay leaf & parsley into the pot. reduce heat to a simmer & cook the chicken uncovered for 2 hours. the chicken liquid will reduce by about 1/3rd. (i used my crock pot and it worked very well).
• 2 when the chicken has cooked, remove it from the pot & set aside to cool. strain the stock to remove the veggies & floating scum, what you have left is the stock & chicken. i saved the celery and carrots and put them back into the broth. discard all else.
• 3 pour 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) of the stock in a smaller pot (save the balance for another use & it can be frozen). add pepper, the remaining salt, & the lemon juice. reheat the stock over medium heat while preparing the dumplins.
• 4 combine flour and ingredients in a medium bowl. stir well till smooth, then let dough rest for about 10 minutes. roll out dough on a floured surface to approximately 1/2 inch thick. dough is very wet and sticky. add extra flour as needed to roll it out.
• 5 cut dough into 1/2 inch squares & drop each into the simmering chicken stock. as the pot gets crowded, move dumplins out of the way with a wooden spoon as you carefully drop the rest of the dumplins into the simmering broth. use all the squares. the dumplins will swell at first & then slowly shrink in size as they partially dissolve to thicken the stock to a gravy. simmer for 20-30 minutes till thick. stir often.
• 6 while the stock is thickening, the chicken will have become cool enough to handle. tear all the meat from the bones & remove the skin. cut the meat into bite size pieces & drop it into the pot. discard the skin & bones. continue to simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes, do not stir vigorously or the chicken will shred & fall apart. we want to strive for big chunks at the completion of our recipe.
• 7 when the thickened soup has reached the desired consistency, serve hot.