Posted on 09/17/2015 4:27:56 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
When I was growing up and ever since, toward the end of August there is always one day when I can distinctly sense the coming of Fall, even though it is still Summer.
It may be a change in the slant of the light that alerts me, or a faint smell of decomposing leaves that have died prematurely; sometimes it's been a fresh wind with a whisper of change on its breath, after a hurricane has grazed the Mid-Atlantic and cleaned the air of the long, hot days of the Summer.
But I always realize two things on that day: that the turning of Nature's seasons is perfect, each one coming along right when we're a little weary of the last, and ready for it; and that despite overt appearances, Summer is over. The hummingbirds are preparing to fly and aren't seen at the feeder very much anymore; the undergrowth in my little patch of woods is thinning and shabby; the days are noticeably shorter. I start looking forward to pumpkins, sweaters, fires in the grate - and comfort food.
I work with a bunch of folks who really like their Soul- and Comfort-food; and whenever we have a cold-weather party they want me to bring either Chicken Pie, or Chicken and Dumplings.
I think I've posted about my Granny's Chicken Pie before, and here it is:
Grannys Chicken Pie
(Use approximately 3-1/2 lbs. chicken parts, thighs and breasts, or whatever you prefer; I personally like mostly dark meat - more flavorful.)
Cover chicken in water (about 12 cups) in a large stock pot and stew until tender. Remove chicken meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Cook the broth down to about 4 cups. Skim fat from broth and strain the broth. (Save schmaltz and freeze it, for use in Chicken Dumplings :-)
While chicken is stewing, make the crust:
(The secret to this is keeping flour and butter very cold, while you work with it):
Mix together:
2 Cups Flour
½ tsp. Cream of Tartar, opt. (I never use this)
½ tsp. Salt
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
Dice ½ cup (1 stick) COLD butter into small pieces. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into the flour mixture.
(Pie crust can also be mixed in a food processor, but the old way gives a nicer crust; we never use the food processor; this is Hubbys job, while hes watching TV.)
Quickly stir 2/3 Cup COLD milk into flour and mix until all flour is moistened. Knead lightly into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
Make the Sauce:
Reduce stock to to 3 or 3-1/2 Cups.
Melt in saucepan: 8 tablespoons Butter and stir in 8 tablespoons all purpose flour.
Cook 2 minutes, then slowly add stock, stirring constantly.
Add 1 to 1-1/2 C. Heavy Cream, ½ tsp. black pepper, and salt to taste.
Cook 5 minutes until thickened.
Mix chicken with Sauce; add 1 to 2 cups thawed frozen peas or peas/carrots mix, and ½ medium onion diced VERY finely . Pour mixture into greased oblong pan (metal is best).
Roll out crust between two layers of wax paper, peel off the paper and place the crust over chicken (Doesnt have to fit perfectly; this is a rustic pie; make sure some edges fall down into that fatty sauce, and get very crisp!)
Bake at 400 or 425 degrees until Bubbly and Golden 20 to 30 minutes. (Watch that the crust doesnt burn.)
Sometimes, you have to regulate for the liquidity you want in the sauce. Experiment!
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The Chicken and Dumpling recipe that we use comes from America's Test Kitchen. It takes a lot of time, and I know there are simpler, quicker ones, but it has always turned out so well that I haven't yet tried another recipe. (The original recipe calls for 1/4 C. dry sherry in the sauce, but I usually don't have that on hand, and leave it out. Also, whenever you stew a carcass for chicken stock - or, if you make the Chicken Pie above - save and freeze the chicken fat, so you always have enough for these dumplings. It makes them so much better than butter does.)
Chicken and Dumplings
5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Table salt and ground black pepper
4 teaspoons vegetable oil (we use olive or light olive oil)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
4 carrots , peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 ribs celery , sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 large onion , minced
6 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup frozen green peas
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Dumplings
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons reserved chicken fat (or unsalted butter)
1. For the Stew: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the browned skin. Pour off the chicken fat and reserve. Return the pot to medium-high heat and repeat with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken. Pour off and reserve any chicken fat.
2. Add the butter to the Dutch oven and melt over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour. Whisk in the sherry, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, milk, thyme, and bay leaves. Nestle the chicken, with any accumulated juices, into the pot. Cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, about 1 hour.
3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Discard the bay leaves. Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon. Shred the chicken, discarding the bones, then return it to the stew.
4. For the Dumplings: Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Microwave the milk and fat in a microwave-safe bowl on high until just warm (do not over-heat), about 1 minute. Stir the warmed milk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated and smooth.
5. Return the stew to a simmer, stir in the peas and parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Following the photos below, drop golf-ball-sized dumplings over the top of the stew, about 1/4 inch apart (you should have about 18 dumplings). Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve.
(To do this ahead for a potluck, I take the dumplings out after cooking and put them in a container; and transfer the stew to a large crockpot. When I'm ready to heat it, I get the crockpot warmed up on-site, and add the dumplings back in to heat through.)
-JT
Some kitchen company, someday, somewhere, will wise up and create the 60” wide dishwasher and make billions off the Italians :)
I just moved to the south, and have been having wonderful chicken and dumplings at local restaurants. They aren’t like the ones I make - which is more of a chicken stew with big pieces of chicken and carrots with a broth/gravy and fluffy dumplings.
The chicken is shredded so you can’t even pick out a piece for the dog! It’s quite thick, with the noodle-like dumplings mingled with a thick gravy, vegetables, and the unidentifiable chicken.
I have no clue how to make it, but I’ll be trying to figure it out!
There’s also a wonderful cornbread salad, if anyone knows how to make that.
Sounds like me. I worry what I will be like in 10 years if I’m this bad at 53!
My husband’s too! My mother in love is a wonderful cook & recently sent us a huge box of biscotti & the little frosted anise cookies. I use her old sauce pot to make my sauce. My husband loves chicken & dumplings, but I have never made them. I will be trying your recipe next month. Thanks!!!
Ooooh. We must have one!
:-) JT
Put all the dishes in one side, the baby’s jumping jack, roller, high chair top in the other side.... or plant pots, big dog bowls... and in a pinch the cableguy if your husband comes home unexpectedly for lunch :)
I love chicken and dumplings so much.. whichever kid helped debone the whole chicken that boiled for an hour to make the stock got to pick clean the carcass of meat. THAT was a treat. Then we made the dumplings with Bisquick, adding Italian seasonings and dropped them into the barely simmering shredded/chopped chicken stew, covered, ready in another 15 minutes. Soul food in every language.
Chili contains everything needed for a healthy diet according to Ironside. I can believe it.
I love the fluffy ball shaped dumplings. We always used the recipe on Bisquick. Around here the dumplings are the flat heavy rectangles.
My quickest comfort food for this cooler weather is creamy bone broth. Make your own beef or chicken broth using the carcass/bones and veggies etc.
I then can this in the pressure canner. Then I open a jar at a time, and pour it into my cup with a dash or two of real cream - heat and add sea salt/no salt mixture to taste.
I like to drink this before breakfast or lunch. In the evening I drink it for a bedtime snack.
Then it’s crockpot soup or homemade veggie soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. In winter, it’s casseroles and homemade bread - anything that can have the whole meal cooked in the oven and/or crockpot.
Happens to me all the time - why should you be exempt?
“smiles and best wishes”
Perfect! Just perfect. :)
Ok-I have to confess that I have not seen this one. What channel is it on?
Ok-I have to confess that I have not seen this one. What channel is it on?
Not Italian - German/Scotts-Irish - Guilty, guilty, guilty. Have 2 kitchens. Pining away for a commercial range with grill, and a third outdoor kitchen. LOL
Our 70’s kitchen needs remodeling, so it’s going into the basement as a kitchen for my new business and for canning perhaps. I really want a wood cookstove outside as well, next to the Italian pizza oven.
The Christopher Kimball shows, “America’s Test Kitchen” and “Cooks Country”, are on Public Television. In our area, they’re aired on Saturday afternoons.
=JT
A Summer Kitchen is on my husband’s wish list - something a little apart from the house.
His mother has always had an extra sink and oven/range in the basement; and his grandfather had an entire extra kitchen in the back of the house. It was all set up to make and dry pasta, with an extra stove and fridge.
-JT
And as everyone around the table is loosening his belt a couple of notches or groaning because she's so stuffed she can barely move, the hostess stands at the head of the table lifting her arms to heaven and wailing, "Nobody's eating!"
I forgot to thank you last week for the navy bean recipe. I was going to reply and got to doing something else and forgot. So thank you. ;^)
Aside from the sun setting earlier thing, the nights start getting colder, as in dipping below 70°. Then the days start not getting above the mid-80° range.
Winter is drier as well, can be very dry with humidity where we live dropping below 50%.
After a rather hot summer still going on hurricanes close by and rain, we are ready for cooler, dry weather. The winter swells do make getting the boat out trickier for novices like us.
Lovely essay from you about autumn, Jamestown. I look for the change in light first. Can’t wait for the rains of November to really get into autumn food.
Since I’m going through a bad time right now (my mother is dying), I wanted to make her simple Veal Stew. Then my stove conked out completely! so I’m back to Chinese food until next week.
My veal stew is simply a tomato sauce made with onions, carrots, butter/olive oil, a nice can of pureed tomatoes (Cento)cooked down and added to browned veal. Once it is completed it is dumped (literally dumped) over a opened baked potato. Serve it with steamed broccoli and it will cheer up the most weary soul!
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