Chicken and Dumplings

We've all heard of this traditional dish. On a cool rainy day I was looking for some good old fashioned comfort food I did some searching, combining and tweaking and came up with a this thick, creamy chicken soup with fluffy dumplings. Our family loves this scrumptious version of this wonderful comfort food.

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:
Chicken Soup:

2 pounds chicken breast

3 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
olive oil
salt

8 cups water
chicken bouillon powder or cubes
2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup

Dumplings

3 cups flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups milk


Directions:

Dice the chicken into chunks and sauté in a large pot using a small amount of olive oil and desired seasonings (I use salt and a touch of pepper) until no longer pink. Lift from pot and set aside.

Combine the celery, carrots and onion in the pot with more olive oil and salt to make mirapoix. Combine the water and correct amount of bouillon to make 8 cups of chicken broth. Deglaze the pan with a bit of the broth.

Add the cream of chicken soup and mix well, slowly add the remaining broth, stirring carefully to incorporate into the cream soup. Add the cooked chicken and bring to a slow simmer.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in milk to make a soft dough, may be a bit sticky.

Drop by spoonfuls into simmering stew and cover. Simmer 15-20 minutes without lifting lid.

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Tips and Hints

• The soup will start out a bit thin but the dumplings should thicken it up nicely.

• Smaller dumplings will cook through easier and be less doughy. If they are a bit doughy just let them cook a bit longer.

• You can omit the dumplings and add homemade noodles instead to make a creamy chicken noodle soup.

• You can use a whole chicken and boil it in 4 quarts of water. Then remove the chicken from the pot and take the meat off the bones. The water used to cook the chicken will replace the water and bouillon broth.

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