Chicken and Dumplings - Oooo La La

I have made this chicken and dumplings recipe before but it was before I started writing this blog so I wanted to try it again. It was soooooo delicious the first time, it deserved a repeat performance.

A quick backstory about chicken and dumplings... One day in a land far, far away (Branson, Missouri) my mom and dad had chicken and dumplings at a friend's house. My dad loved it so much and wanted my mom to make it for them when they got home. My mom searched and searched for the perfect recipe but never seemed to get it right. It was too runny, it was too thick, the dumplings were too soft, the dumplings were too hard, well you get the point. She tried to perfect this recipe for MONTHS. Every weekend for 4 months we had chicken and dumplings for our Sunday night dinner. Every time we had to analyze it and figure out what needed to be added or taken away. It was brutal. That was the end of chicken and dumplings for me for a while. I was traumatized by them. My mom finally gave up her search for the perfect recipe and didn't thinkt about them again for years. I think she was traumatized too.

Needless to say, when I saw this recipe I was apprehensive. Did I want to get stuck in the never-ending chicken and dumplings loop too? Did I really want to go down that road? Yes. Apparently I did and I'm happy to report that it came out PERFECT the first time. And then perfect again the second time. I brought some to my parents for them to taste the perfection, and they gave it four thumbs up too :) If it's not an Italian dish and my parents like it, you know it's a winner.

Okay, now on to the recipe. Ree says that the prep time is 15 minutes and the cook time is 20 minutes. Remember those super powers? Well they must be at work again. If you look through the recipe you will notice that the time she states that it takes to do certain things is a lot more than 20 minutes. Maybe we need to get her a calculator? Just kidding, Ree. I have nothin' but love for you and your recipes :) This recipe took approximately 1.5 hours for me to make. So make sure you start two hours before you want to serve it.

The recipe calls for a whole fryer cut up into pieces. I didn't want to cut up a chicken - so I just grabbed a family pack of chicken thighs. I think dark meat has more flavor than white meat anyway so I didn't miss the whole chicken. If you REALLY feel the need to cut into a whole chicken. Here's a tutorial that shows you how to do it humanely.

You will need to season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, dredge them in flour and then brown them in a pot. You don't need to worry about the chicken cooking all of the way the first time because you will add it back in later. I browned the pieces for about 5 minutes on each side. After you put them back in the pot (when the recipe calls for it), you will need to take them out again to shred them. Make sure you count how many pieces go in the pot so you know how many need to come out. Then you can follow this video on how to shred chicken. You will need to remove the skin before you begin to shred the pieces. Just please note that the chicken is VERY HOT (it just came out of a pot of boiling liquid) so be very careful handling it.

The recipe calls for 1/2 cups of carrots, 1/2 cup of celery and one whole onion diced. I used a rough chop on these. I didn't totally mince it since I didn't want them to just evaporate into the soup. I also used around 3/4 cup of each. As for the onion - i used a white onion because I feel that yellow onions get too sweet when they are cooked and for those of you that know me, you know there will be no sweet and savory recipes here. Here's a tutorial on how to dice an onion if you feel like watching another video.

Speaking of sweet and savory, Ree calls for 1/2 cup of Apple Cider for this recipe. Um, did i read that right? Apple cider? You want me to pour apple cider into this delicate tasty creation from the gods? No thank you, Ree. No thank you. She says to trust her. Usually I do trust her, but not on this one. If you make this and you decide to put in the Apple Cider please let me know how it goes. Maybe I'm missing out on something wonderful, but I really have to trust my instincts on this one and beg you not to do it. Since I didn't use it, I just added extra chicken broth to the pot.

A note on the chicken broth. Buy extra. You will need it when you heat this up to have it later. The dumplings are floury so they will make the broth really thick after it sits for a while but if you add some extra chicken broth to the leftovers, it will be like the first time you had it.

As for the seasonings, it calls for 1/2 tsp of ground thyme and 1/4 tsp of tumeric. The first time I made this I used the full amounts of both. The second time I made it, I cut the 1/2 tsp of thyme down to 1/4 tsp. I felt that the first batch was overpowered by the thyme. A wise person once said that when it comes to cooking, you can always add but you can never take away. So true. So if you use 1/4 tsp and you feel like it needs more go ahead and add the rest.

And now for the most important part... The DUMPLINGS. Ree uses cornmeal in them. I was a little apprehensive at first, but I trusted her and made them exactly how she said. I have to say, the cornmeal gives the dumplings a nice texture. Make sure you let them sit before you drop them in the pot. And also please, please, please make sure you sift the dry ingredients before mixing it all together. I'm not sure why you need to sift dry ingredients, but i have learned the hard way that if a recipe says sift, you sift. Don't ask questions. Just do it.

That's it. Everything else is pretty straight forward. Oh, she does say that you need 2 tbsp of olive oil, but she never says when to use it so I just omitted it.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. It really is wonderful.

Some notes to remember: "You can always add but you can't take away" This really is an important one to remember when you are cooking. And never, ever, ever use apple cider in chicken and dumplings. Really. Never.