Bev's Chicken and Dumplings, The Best Comfort Food and a New Blog

When you have a chance, visit a new blogger:  http://victoriajgreeneartist.blogspot.com 
She is an artist that lives in California .  She has beautiful gardens and a dog named Teddy!!!  She just started her blog so let's give her our support!

Bev  recently gave me her recipe for chicken and dumplings.  I made it the other day and it is simply one of the best things I've ever eaten.  I gave a lot away and fed my family and it was a resounding favorite for everyone.  I made it with one of the hens I bought in Amish country.

 

Rinse your chicken and put it in a heavy pot.  This might be the only time you will ever be told to leave the innards in the chicken.  Doing so will add to the flavor of the stock and you can feed them to your puppy when they are cooked. Teddy loved them!

Place 1 stick of butter in the pot and a bunch of bay leaves.

Sprinkle the chicken with freshly cracked black pepper and some kosher salt. About 1 teaspoon of each.

Dice up some celery.  I used my home grown which added great flavor.

Sprinkle it over the chicken.

I also added 2 tubs of Knorrs concentrated chicken stock for richness.

Fill the pot with water.  If it doesn't cover the chicken, just turn the chicken over half was through cooking.

Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about an hour.  If your chicken is really big this could take longer.  Mine took about 1  1/2 hours.

Remove the chicken and set it aside to cool.

In a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of salt and some cracked black pepper.

Add 1/2 cup of oil.

3/4 cup of water.

2 eggs.

Whisk this together.

Gradually add 3 cups of flour stirring it in with a fork just until it is mixed.

Turn the dough onto a floured cutting board.

Roll it to 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut it in 1/2 inch strips and then into 2 inch pieces.

Bring the stock back to a boil and drop the dumplings into the boiling liquid.

Remove the skin from the chicken and pull all of the meat.  Add it to the stock and dumplings.

I had a lot of stock in my pot so my dish was not as thick as it normally would have been.  Bev said that most of the liquid should be absorbed.

Either way, this is comfort food at it's best.  People will swoon.