Chicken and Fluffy Dumplings

Timothy J Higgins Eva's Note:

Bakers NEED to follow recipes, or bad things happen. While this is not so in cooking, I still treat it as such. I am always leery to stray from a recipe, in fear of what might happen. I decided to just create my own recipe for chicken and dumplings.I must say that I think it turned out very good.

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 5

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 of a large onion)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup flour

For the dumplings

• 2 cups Bisquick
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions:

1. Place chicken breasts in a pot, cover with water, and boil until fully cooked.
2. While chicken is boiling, melt butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot (I used a 5 qt saute pan). Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pan and saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and vegetables are soft. If you see that they are getting too hot, reduce heat to medium low.
3. Add chicken broth and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer about 30 minutes.
4. At this point you can add a slurry of flour and broth if the mixture is too thin for your likeness. I ended up using approximately 1/4 cup of flour, but would recommend adding 1 Tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired thickness. I find the best method for doing this is to ladle a scoop of broth out of the pot and into a separate cup. In that cup, whisk in the flour until smooth, and then whisk that mixture back into the pot. This keeps large clumps of flour from forming in your pot!
5. When chicken has finished cooking, let it cool long enough to handle. Shred the chicken and add it to the broth and vegetables, along with the peas. Cover and let simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
6. To prepare dumplings, mix together the Bisquick and milk, until a soft dough forms. Drop by rounded tablespoons into the chicken mixture (makes about 16 dumplings – I got exactly this many using my medium scoop from Pampered Chef). Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, uncovered. Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes, or until the dumplings are done.