DALLAS' CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS W/CUCUMBER SALAD
You will need:
- for the chicken -
48 ounces of chicken stock
Pepper
Salt
Approximately 2 pounds of chicken (boneless or bone-in. whatever's yer pleasure)
6 medium-sized red potatoes (peeled or not)
- for the dumplings (NOT DROP DUMPLINGS!)-
enough dough for about 20 dumplings (frozen, fresh, or other?)
Flour, water, yeast, sugar, milk, salt, butter, etc...
Don't know dough? Go.
- for the cucumber salad -
2 medium cukes
a pint of 1/2 and 1/2
a pint of milk
salt
pepper
white vinegar
- PREPARE YOURSELVES -
Pour stock into large stockpot. Add salt and pepper. Add potatoes that have been cut into small-ish cubes. Cover and gently boil for 30 minutes. Add chicken to stockpot ON TOP of the potatoes. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
WHILE this is going on, make your cucumber salad: peel and chop cucumbers into sizes and shapes you enjoy and place in medium to larger bowl. Add 1/2 and 1/2 and milk. Salt, pepper, and vinegar to taste. Stick in the icebox.
After the two minutes it takes to make the cukey goodness, MAKE THE DUMPLINGS: use whatever dough or dough recipe that will get you to have about 20 blobs of rising yeastiness.
WHEN it has been a half an hour after you put the chicken on the potatoes, stir the chicken down with the potatoes. Then GENTLY place your dough balls on top of the chicken and potatoes. GENTLY I SAID! It's ok that you put dumplings on top of dumplings. They won't stick because...? You have lightly GREASED them as per indicated on the packaging or in the recipe that you're using. If that isn't a step in your instructions, throw those away and find a better recipe/brand.
Turn temp to medium-low heat then COVER and GO AWAY for about an hour. I mean it! I like my dumplings to have spring but NO sponge. CHOOSE BUT CHOOSE WISELY. If you keep checking on them, the steam will escape and you'll have flat gobs of gooeyness. Not bad just not great.
Remove from heat, carefully extricate dumplings, serve up chicken and potatoes. Bring out the salad and try dipping the dumplings in it. DELICIOUS, darlings, delicious.
My 'plings didn't turn out because SOMEONE opened the lid.
So I did the only thing The Doll could think of. I baked the gooey, sloppy, mess of deliciousness.
And happy times were had by all during this cruddy and crappy gizzard wizzard of a blizzard.
ONE MORE THING. If you have leftover d'oh! you can just make buns! Love love love you, kittens!
