by Kelly J. Larson

My mother made chicken and dumplings when I was growing up occasionally and I always loved it.

A whole chicken get boiled for a few hours in a pot of water with some salt and bay leaves, then it’s deboned and transformed into the epitome of comfort food by adding a few spices and dropping in homemade dumplings to the boiling soup.

Chicken and dumplings make a perfect meal on a cold day, which reheats nicely for leftovers.

Chicken and Dumplings

Soup

• 5 pound whole uncooked chicken
• water in large pot, covering chicken
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley

Dumplings

• 2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk, slightly more if too dry

Put chicken in a large pot with bay leaves and 1 teaspoon salt with lid off. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to medium low for several hours until chicken easily falls off the bone.

Transfer chicken to a plate. With gloves on, remove chicken pieces from the bones and discard the rest.

Pour liquid in pot through a strainer to get the bay leaves and any chunks that fell off.

Put chicken back into the pot with liquid. Add salt, peppercorns, thyme and parsley. Bring to a boil on medium high, while preparing dumplings.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt, then with a fork or pastry blender, add butter until evenly incorporated. Pour milk over mixture, then stir until a wet dough forms.

Dough can be slightly crumbly with loose flour. These are my three smallest stainless steel scoops. I use the smallest one for scooping the dough out to make dumplings.

Scoop the dumpling dough onto the boiling soup. Continue until all the dough and is added. Do not stir. Place a lid on the pot and cook for 20 minutes on medium until dumplings have cooked.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.