January: Chicken and Dumplings

Today on the blog I will be sharing my adventure while making Chicken & Dumplings from The Year of Cozy. As I have already said in previous blogs, I am not a cook AT ALL. But this year is all about broadening my horizons and really pushing myself out of my comfort zone. While making the Chicken & Dumplings I must have been feeling really brave and confident because I made some substitutions hoping that it would still taste good. (Which thankfully it was more delicious than I thought it was going to be.) 

The first part of the adventure was a trip to the store. Kroger is my go to, but seeing as I had never heard of some of the ingredients I wasn't even sure if they would even carry them. So the night before I went to Kroger, I got on their website to make sure my trip wasn't a waste of time. Fortunately for me they had everything I needed. (But I would definitely check before you make your trip.) When I got there I spent most of my time in the produce section. Having some of the basics already at home (flour, salt, baking powder) I only spent $11 on the ingredients. Some of which I had extra which I will be using for one of my next blogs which bring down the cost a little more. Over all not a bad price at all! It's also definitely worth it. 

While preparing food I tend to follow the recipe 100%. But I did decide to alter a couple things in this one that just made more sense for me. Sometimes you just have to do what's easiest for you. If making food isn't something you enjoy or are good at and you make it more complicated for yourself you won't want to keep doing it. 

Recipe: 
*parenthesis are my changes and/or my personal comments. All other parts of the recipe and instructions are per The Year of Cozy by Adrianna Adarme. 

1 tablespoon olive oil ( I could not find any at my house so I used Canola oil.)

½ shallow, finely chopped

1 rib celery, thinly sliced

1 small carrot, finely chopped

1 sprig of thyme (I was kind of confused by this. But I bought the thyme and cut it 2” long pieces. Next time, I will not cut it up and put the whole piece into the bowl. When done cooking remove the branch-like piece as a whole, leaving the leaves in the soup.)

1 quart filtered water

1 rotisserie chicken carcass (I did not have a chicken carcass, and also did not want to buy one. So instead I used 2 chicken bouillon cube and 1 breast of chicken.)

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt (I used regular salt.)

½ cup buttermilk, shaken

1 ½ cups shredded chicken

freshly ground black pepper

1. In a medium pot set over medium heat, heat the oil. When the oil glistens, add the shallot, celery, and carrot. Mix in the thyme sprig. Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 3 minutes.

2. Pour in the water and place the chicken carcass in the center. Bring the water to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook for 15-20, or until fragrant. (According to my version at this point, you should have all the vegetables, 1 chicken breast, and 2 bouillon cubes on low to medium heat in your covered pot.)

3. Meanwhile, make the dumplings. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Pour in the buttermilk and mix until just combined.

4. Remove the carcass from the water and discard. (At this point I slightly pulled apart the chicken breast leaving it in bite size chunks. In the future, I would now remove the thyme branch.) At this time the broth should be flavorful and fragrant. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning according to your liking. Depending on the rotisserie chicken you’re using, you may need to skim the top of the broth to remove some of the fat.

5. Bring the broth to a medium boil. Drop a heaping tablespoon of dough right onto the bubbling point. The extreme heat from that bubbling point reacts with the baking powder in the dough to create a really fluffy dumpling. Continue until you’ve worked your way through all of the dough. You should end up with about 5 dumplings. Cover the pot so the dumplings can cook for about 2-3 minutes.


6. Carefully move the dumplings aside and slide the shredded chicken into the broth. Divide the dumplings and broth between 2 bowls and serve with a sprinkling of black pepper.

The 2nd part of the adventure was definitely when I burnt myself... BAD. Be careful!! Especially if your pots have metal lids like mine. While removing the lid for step 4 I set it a side so it would cool down so I could keep up with all the dishes and cleanup. (I try to multitask so by the time the food is done, most of the cleanup is as well.) I put the lid back on for 2 minutes to let the dumplings finish. I removed the lid and set it aside, assuming it would cool of in 10 minutes. During that time I put the shredded chicken into the broth, separated each serving into bowls, and finished washing the other dishes. I thought for sure it was cooled off. As soon as I touched it I realized I had just made the biggest rookie mistake yet!! I touched a burning hot ban and burnt all 5 fingertips on my right hand. VERY PAINFUL! (And honestly just not convenient at all seeing as that is my dominant hand.) I definitely have learned my lesson. Burns are the worst. 

My 3rd, and last adventure, was devouring this delicious soup. The dumplings definitely thickened it up and the shredded chicken made it very hearty. I was debating between buying the thyme... thinking maybe it's not really needed. BUT I WAS SO WRONG. The flavor that it gave definitely was worth it. I will definitely be making this again... probably pretty soon. I just gotta let my burns heal first. 

I hope my burn story does not keep you from trying this recipe yourself. You will not be disappointed. I can promise you that. 

Let me know how yours turns out!

xoxo

@acloudofstyle
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