Ingredients
Units Scale
- 4 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, preferably free range and organic (about 5 to 7 pounds)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Bell's Poultry Seasoning
- Homemade chicken stock (preferred) or water
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 6 carrots, sliced into coins
- Butter
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 handful of fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt (I prefer Lawry's) or just use regular salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco preferred)
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- Parsley and chopped celery leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Rub chicken breasts with salt, pepper, Poultry Seasoning and paprika.
- In a large Dutch Oven, sauté the carrots, onions and celery with butter. Once translucent, add the chicken and stock.
- Tie the rosemary, parsley and thyme into a bundle with kitchen twine and drop in the pot. Bring to a low boil and allow it to simmer for about 30 minutes.
- When chicken is cooked through, remove it from pot and allow it to cool. Discard herbs.
- Mix together flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add shortening and mix with your fingertips until mixture is the consistency of coarse meal. Add warm stock, a little at a time, until a soft, but not sticky, dough is formed.
- Knead on floured board until soft, pliable and very smooth, about 4 to 5 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Place dough on floured surface and roll very thin. With a sharp knife, cut into squares, about 2 inches. Dust dumplings with flour.
- Raise heat on the pot of broth to medium-high and drop dumplings, one by one, into boiling stock, being careful not to let them stick together. Cover and boil dumplings for 10 to 15 minutes.
- The liquid should thicken into a light gravy. If not, or if you prefer a thicker gravy (I do), make a roux out of flour and butter in equal parts, toast in a frying pan, stirring constantly until nut brown. Pour in stock from the dumplings and stir until a gravy is formed. Add chopped fresh herbs to taste plus salt and pepper.
- While dumplings are boiling, remove chicken meat from the bones. As an optional but delicious step, fry up the skin in a blazing hot pan with oil and make it very crisp. Break into small pieces. This is a TFD addition to the classic recipe, where the skin is simply discarded.
- Garnish dumplings with chopped parsley and celery leaves. Serve them immediately with the gravy over the torn-up chicken meat, sprinkle with fried skin cracklings if using.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours