Recipe(tried): Mama's Chicken and Dumplings

Holly,

Mama never measures, but she helped me put the recipe below together, which I have wanted to do for a long time. So many wonderful family recipes are lost because we take for granted that our loved ones will be here forever to prepare them for us. Thanks for this opportunity. Note that since this is a "first run" written recipe you may need to tweak the amounts a bit to suit your taste.

I like to serve the Chicken & Dumplings with English Peas, chilled cling peach slices, and brown & serve rolls.

I hope you will let me know if you try them.

Brenda

MAMA'S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

One Whole Chicken
salt and black pepper
2 cups all purpose flour
Additional self rising flour to roll and knead dumpling pastry
approximately 1 cup of ice water

Place chicken, salt, and pepper to taste in large pot and cover with water. Cook on medium heat. When chicken is done, remove, cool, and de-bone. Place de-boned chicken aside.

Place 2 cups all purpose flour in large mixing bowl.

Add ice water and stir well. Add small amounts of additional flour until the pastry holds together in a ball. Be sure not to use too much or your dumplings will be tough. Place dough on flour dusted countertop and knead only until tight (just 2 or 3 minutes). Divide into two portions.

With a rolling pin roll out 1 portion at a time and cut into 2 inch squares or 1 to 1-1/2" strips. After cutting all of the dough, place the flour dusted squares or strips on a tray next to your chicken broth on the stove.

Bring the broth to a rolling boil. If broth doesn't seem rich enough, you can add chicken bouillon or a couple of tablespoons of butter or margarine. Use canned or boxed chicken stock if you need to increase the quantity of broth. You will need to watch constantly from here on so that the dumplings don't stick to the bottom of the pot and burn. Drop pastry into the boiling broth one at a time, stirring occasionally. Gently move the dumplings that are cooking from the raw ones you are constantly dropping in. Once you have them all in turn the heat to simmer and cover the pot. Check occasionally and let simmer for about 30 minutes.

We like our chicken and dumplings well seasoned, so Mama sprinkles each "layer" of dumplings that she adds with additional black pepper. Make sure your broth is salty enough before you begin adding your dumplings.