Chicken and Dumplings

One of my daughter's favorite meals is chicken and dumplings.  I have a very old, very beat up Joy of Cooking that I got my dumplings recipe from.  Recently our puppy decided that she must find, pull out and chew the cook book no matter what we try to do to make it inaccessible to her.  I decided that I had better write up the recipe for prosperity since this book isn't going to last much longer.  The chicken fricassee part is adapted from a long cooking recipe using whole chicken parts.  I make chicken stock from left over roast chicken in my slow cooker at least once a week.  The shredded chicken meat from that is what I use here but any fully cooked cubed or shredded rotisserie chicken would work here.

Ingredients:

For Fricasse

Half a stick of butter (4 tbsp)

1 large onion, diced

3 stalks of celery, diced

20 baby carrots cut into rounds

1/3 cup of flour

1 3/4 cups of hot water

2 cups of chicken stock

8 oz of button mushrooms, sliced

Half a cooked chicken, shredded (skin and bones removed)

1 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of white pepper

1 bay leaf

For Dumplings

1 cup of milk

3 tbsp of salted butter

2 cups of flour

1 tbsp of baking powder

3/4 tsp of salt

To finish

1/4 cup of half and half

Hot sauce or lemon, salt and pepper to taste

In a large dutch oven or pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add in the onions, carrots and celery and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring until softened.  Add in 1/3 cup of flour and stir, cooking for 3 minutes.  Whisk in the hot water and stock until well combined and smooth.  Add in the sliced mushrooms and cooked chicken, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Stir in the salt, pepper and bay leaf and allow to cook while you prepare the dumplings.

For the dumplings, bring the milk and butter to a simmer in a small saucepan then remove front the heat. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and stir with a fork to combine.  Stir in the hot milk and butter mixture and stir until all of the liquid is incorporated.  Turn out onto a board and knead three times.  Portion out into 16-18 individual dumplings.  Roll lightly into balls and then drop into the simmering fricassee. Be careful not to overcrowd, they will expand.  Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes.  Stir in half and half and hot sauce or lemon.  Adjust seasonings to taste and serve.