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We've had our first little dip down into cooler weather this week and those of us who love the North are all excited about cooking some "real" food again; the kind that simmers on the stove for hours and fills the house with rich aromas.   One of my favorites is chicken and dumplings.   This is not necessarily an easy dinner, but it's not a hard one either, so muster up some courage and give it a try.   I promise you'll tip your hat to those old fashioned cooks who knew that simple is often the best there can be.   This recipe comes from one of my old Farm Journal cookbooks, no longer in print, but still out there to be found.

• Heat
  • 1 quart of water to boiling.   Add
  • 1 tsp. of salt,
  • 2 carrots, peeled and sliced,
  • 1 onion, sliced,
  • 1 branch of celery and
  • 1 stewing chicken, cut into pieces.
  Cover and simmer (do not boil) for 2½ to 3 hours, or until chicken is tender.   In the meantime, start making the dumplings by sifting together
  • 2 cups of flour,
  • 3 tsp. of baking powder and
  • 1 tsp. of salt.   Add
  • ¼ cup of finely chopped parsley, fresh, or dried.   Cut in
  • ¼ cup of butter (accept no substitutes) until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal.   At this point, let it sit until just before you're ready to drop them in the batter.   We'll add the liquid at the last minute.
  Back to the chicken.   When it's tender, remove it and the vegetables from the broth with a slotted spoon, cover it and keep it warm (in a low oven works well.)
• Strain the broth (optional), measure it and add enough water, if necessary, to make 3 cups.
• Return the broth to the saucepan and heat.   Put
  • 1 c. of milk and
  • ⅓ c. of flour into a jar with a cover and shake until the mixture is smooth.
  Add the milk mixture slowly to the hot broth, beating with a whisk to keep it smooth.   Cook about 5 minutes.
• At this point, the recipe tells you to add the chicken back to the gravy, but I never do.   My family likes to pick out their pieces of chicken without fishing around for them under the dumplings.   This is a matter of personal taste, so proceed according to your whims.   However you proceed, about 20 minutes before you want to eat, stir
  • 1 cup of milk
  into the dumpling mix that has been patiently waiting.   Do this with a fork, very lightly and just until all the dry ingredients are moistened.   It will start to puff up as the moisture hits the baking powder.   This is good.
• Drop this dough by spoonfuls onto the simmering gravy, with or without chicken under it.   When I do this the dumplings fill the whole pan, but it will depend on the surface area of your pan.   Don't worry if they're touching or not.   Simmer them for 10 minutes uncovered and then cover the pan and simmer them for 10 more minutes.   You can poke a fork into one to make sure they're done, but they'll look a little doughy so don't worry too much about it.   Serve it all up immediately.

You can make some additional vegetables for side dishes with this or you can always just throw in more carrots, onions and celery at the beginning and have those to go with it.   However you do it, as long as you add lots of love this is a great way to say good-bye to summer and hello to my favorite season!