Recipe: Morrison's Chicken and Dumplings

MORRISON'S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

"Mr. Jim Litchford of the Lake Forest (New Orleans) Morrison's was kind enough to give me their recipe. Here it is:"

3 1/4 lbs all-purpose flour
1/2 lb margarine, softened
3 eggs
3-4 drops yellow food color (optional)
12 oz cold chicken stock

1. Sift the flour. Add the margarine and mix at low speed. Add the eggs, then the chicken stock (which should be very cold - Morrison's adds ice cubes to the stock and then strains them out) in which you have mixed the food coloring. Roll out and cut into diamond shapes, then stack the dumplings with flour between the layers. Refrigerate uncovered so the dumplings can dehydrate overnight.

2. When ready to cook, bring chicken stock to a boil. Rinse the dumplings in ice water to remove the extra flour, add a few at a time to the boiling stock and simmer until tender. The stock is then thickened with a little roux before pouring it onto the dumplings and chicken.

Servings: 40

Tips
Cutting this down to 10 servings is relatively easy: You could use

3 cups of flour (plus some for rolling out),
1/4 cup margarine
1 egg
2 to 3 ounces chicken stock, or enough to make the dough pliable and easy to roll out

To cut it down even more, you may have to omit the egg entirely. I mention this as Chef Goffredo Fraccaro of La Riviera says that eggs tend to make pasta tough for certain dishes, and his pasta is fit for the gods! The relatively small amount of eggs (3 for 3 1/4 pounds of flour) may be why these dumplings are so tender.

Source: Myriam Guidroz Times Picayune