My Special Chicken and Dumplings Recipe - GREAT for what Ails You!


Cathy Riso’s Chicken and Dumpling Soup
CHICKEN SOUP PART:
·      Whole Raw Chicken, Preferably Organic, Free-Range, Antibiotic-Free
·      ¾ cup finely chopped Carrots
·      ¾ cup finely chopped Onion
·      ¾ cup finely chopped celery
·      1 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
·      1 teaspoon Salt
·      ¾ teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
·      Bouquet Garni of Fresh Rosemary, Sage, Parsley, and Thyme

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS FOR SOUP:
·      ¾ cup finely chopped Carrots
·      ¾ cup finely chopped Onion
·      ¾ cup finely chopped Celery
·      12-ounce bag of Frozen Corn
·      1 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
·      2-3 Quart-Sized Containers of Chicken Broth

Remove chicken livers and gizzard from the interior cavity of chicken.  Carefully wash the raw chicken with hot water, inside and out.  Place the washed chicken in a large stock pot, legs down.  Cover entirely with water.  Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and hot water (sing “Happy Birthday” through once and you’ve washed your hands long enough!).  Add 1st ingredient list of carrots, onions, celery, Poultry Seasoning, salt, pepper, and bouquet garni.  Bring mixture to a boil and lower temperature to a simmer.  Allow to cook for approximately 90 minutes and allow to cool.  Drain off liquid.  Discard the cooked vegetables (place in a bag where you can collect the chicken skin and bones, as well, to maintain a tidy kitchen), but put the liquid back on to boil, so it can continue to reduce.  Strip off the chicken skin and place in the discard bag.  Strip the chicken meat away from the bones and tear or chop it into small pieces for the finished soup.  Once you have finished stripping and dividing the chicken pieces, add the store-bought chicken broth to your own broth with the 2nd set of vegetable and seasoning ingredients, as well as the chicken pieces and the bag of corn.  Place all your chicken bones in the discard bag and then, zip it up and toss it.  Allow your “soup” to cook for approximately 30 minutes.  Taste and add salt, pepper, or other seasonings to adjust flavor.  Make certain to use a very large stock pot, especially if you want to add dumplings.  This is the completed soup UNLESS you wish to add dumplings, which my family adores!

INGREDIENTS FOR DUMPLINGS (This can also be doubled easily):
1.     2 cups of All-Purpose (or better yet, Bread Flour) Flour
2.     1 tablespoon Baking Powder
3.     ½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
4.     ¾ teaspoon Salt
5.     ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
6.     ½ cup Shortening
7.     2/3 cup Buttermilk (you can “make” Buttermilk by putting 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in a 2/3 cup measuring cup, and then filling the reminder of space with regular milk).  Once the milk begins to curdle, it can be added to the dough mixture.

Combine all the dry ingredients, and mix them well (use a fork or pastry blender).  Make a “well” in the middle of the dry ingredients.  I’m “old school”; I like to do all this with my hands because I can “feel” when the consistency is right or wrong.  Add shortening, and knead together with clean hands or a pastry blender.  Slowly add buttermilk, and continue to knead into a large ball.  Do not OVER-knead as dough will get tough.  If extra flour is needed, add a little at a time.  Flour surface to roll out dough.  Tear off pieces of dough about one inch in diameter.  Roll into balls and FLOUR WELL.  Make as many dumplings as possible before dropping them into the soup, making certain they are well-floured.  If you don’t flour them well, they will fall apart while they’re cooking.  The flavor of the resulting soup is still good; it’s almost like a “cream” soup but you miss the fluffy texture of the dumplings.

Drop raw dumplings into BOILING soup.  One of my personal favorite things and now, one of my children’s favorite things, is saving tiny “dough balls” to eat.  (Yes, they’re raw but they’re yummy.  Give it a try!)  As soon as possible, cover the pot, and lower soup to a simmer.  Leave covered for 12 minutes.  Uncover and stir.  Soup should be ready to serve.

This makes soup for 50 or, at least, it makes a lot.  It freezes great, and it’s even better re-heated.  I store the soup I’m going to freeze in gallon freezer bags.  These are easy to thaw or microwave, and then heat on the stove.  Enjoy!

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