Chicken & Dumplings

This meal has been particularly fun to create! A few days ago, I noticed that my new camera (a Nikon L105) has a food close-up setting. I was so excited to try it out, and I have had some fun with it! Now, the pictures are not perfect yet, seeing as how I'm still learning how to use the settings on this particular feature of my camera.

On to the recipe...

Ingredients

Chicken and stock:

2 quarts water

1 3/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 medium onion, sliced

5 parsley sprigs

1 bay leaf

garlic powder (or 1 clove, if you have fresh)

0.75 tsp salt (I use kosher)

juice from 1/2 lemon

fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

canned/boxed chicken stock (if needed)*

Dumplings:

2 C flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

0.75 tsp salt (kosher)

1 C non-fat milk (or whatever you have in your fridge)

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil in a stock pot.

2. Add the celery, onion, bay, garlic, chicken, parsley and 0.25 tsp salt to the water, and reduce. Simmer uncovered for 2 hours. The liquid will reduce and concentrate.

(Left to Right, Top, then Bottom: ingredients coarsely chopped, ingredients added, chicken added, after 1 hour of simmering)

3. Remove the chicken, and allow to cool.

4. Strain the stock, and throw out the veggies. *You will need 6 cups of stock total, so if you do not have 6 cups after cooking the chicken, add enough canned/boxed stock to bring the amount to 6 cups. 

5. Return the stock to the pot, add black pepper, 0.5 tsp salt, and lemon juice. Allow the stock to simmer.

6. To make the dumplings, combine all ingredients in a bowl, and stir until the dough/batter reaches a smooth consistency. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes for the batter to rise. 

7. Spoon small amounts of dough into the broth, using all of the dough. Allow this to simmer for 20-30 minutes. Stirring very often (about every 2 minutes). This is the time of the cooking process where you want to baby your food. Give it a lot of TLC. No watching TV!

8. When the chicken is cooled to the touch (during the 20-30 minutes), shred the chicken. Add to the dumplings, and simmer until the chicken is warmed through.

 Serve, and Enjoy!