Weeknight Chicken and Dumplings

Don't y'all just love Daylight Saving Time when it springs forward?  Despite the havoc it wreaked upon my toddler's sleeping habits, and my day yesterday, today was one of the days that I celebrate its length.  My child was lovely, our day was both productive and pleasurable, and the sun shone through the chill.

Anyway, although it feels like we have more time in the evening, I still don't have all the day to make chicken and dumplings (although yesterday I would have gladly trading a day of stirring chicken broth to temper tantrums in the Trader Joe's).    This recipe is from that excellent cookbook, "Quick Fix Southern", by Rebecca Lang that I have raved about in the past.

Instead of using biscuits in a can (insert side eye), it uses rotisserie chicken and homemade dumplings.  You gotta have Crisco for proper dumplings.  My brother and I would always explode with sheer happiness when we saw Mama put on her flour dusted old apron and reach back in the cabinet for her battered can of Crisco.  It meant homemade biscuits, chicken and dumplings, or both!  JOY!

Anyway, this tastes as good as completely homemade, and can be whipped up quickly even with frequent interruptions from a baby underfoot.

Ingredients:

12 cups chicken broth (low sodium, and organic if you can- it tastes better, I swear)
1 rotisserie chicken
3 cups self rising flour, plus a little more for the counter top when you roll out the dumplings
1/8 teaspoon dried sage
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
6 tablespoons Crisco
1 cup milk

In a large stock pot with a lid, heat the chicken broth over high heat. Remove the skin from the chicken, pull of the meat and shred the chicken.

Add the chicken to the broth and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, combine the flour and spices in a food processor with a metal blade. Pulse once.  Add the Crisco (now you're cooking), and pulse 6 times.  Add the milk and process until the dough comes together (about 30 seconds to a minute).

Remove the dough and place on a lightly floured counter top. Use a floured rolling pin, (or a glass, or a wine bottle if you don't have a rolling pin), and roll to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Use a pizza cutter to cut into strips 1 by 3 inches.  Drop the strips into the boiling broth a couple at a time.  They will look waterlogged and gooey (that detail comes straight from he cookbook, and is one of the reasons why Mrs. Lang is an excellent cookbook authoress).  Stir very gently just once, and reduce heat to medium.

Cover and simmer for 35 minutes.

That's it!  The leftovers were even better the next day.  Serve with biscuits (this is a great quick recipe for biscuits, although Crisco-free), and green beans.  Your family will begin to tap their feet in excitement when you reach for the Crisco!

Just ask Minnie!