Mitford Series Week 1: Puny's Chicken and Dumplings

Warning: this is not a quick recipe.  You will need to be home for several hours for this one.  Everything is fresh and from scratch.  No pre-cooked chicken, pre-made broth...no shortcuts please.  The work is well worth it I guarantee you.  

You will need to start the chicken stock first.  All the vegetables are rough chopped.

Puny's Chicken Stock

(from Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook 2004, pg 137)

1 (3-4 lb) chicken, rinsed and giblets removed (the plastic bag in the cavity of the chicken)

2 large onions, quartered

2 large carrots, sliced thick

3 stalks celery, sliced thick

10 black peppercorns

2 teaspoons salt

3 sprigs fresh parsley

4 quarts cold water

In a large pot, combine all ingredients, adding water last.  Bring to a rolling boil. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2-3 hours.  Remove chicken.  Strain and discard the vegetables.

Puny's Chicken and Dumplings 

2 cups self-rising flour (more for rolling out dumplings)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

1/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup buttermilk

4 1/2 cups Puny's Chicken Stock

3 TBSP unsalted butter

4 cups cooked chicken meat (from the chicken stock)

1 cup milk

1.  Combine flour, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large bowl.

2.  Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until coarse crumb consistency 

3.  Add buttermilk and stir with fork just until dough forms.

4.  Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface (put a sheet of wax paper down for easy clean-up) to 1/8 in thick and cut into 1 inch squares.

5.  Bring the 4 1/2 cups of stock to a rolling boil in the large pot and drop dumplings in one at a time so that they don't stick, stirring gently occasionally.

6.  Put chicken meat on top of dumplings and pour the milk over all.

7.  Cover, reduce heat to med. low, and simmer for 20 min.  Do not open the cover.

8.  Add more milk, if it's too dry and season with salt and pepper if needed. 

I served my on top of homemade mashed potatoes.  

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http://www.mitfordbooks.com/