Chicken and Dumplings

This is definitely an old favorite. My mom pieced this recipe together a while back from different chicken and dumplings recipes.This recipe is definantly most enjoyed on a cold Sunday evening with the people you love most. The Ultimate Comfort Food

The ingredients for this recipe will be for 8 servings:

Chicken Stew Ingredients:

1 rotisserie Chicken from the market (already cooked)
4 small Carrots, angles sliced
8 ounces of Mushrooms (optional)
5 cups of Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Peas (optional)
4 Tablespoons of Butter
1/3 cup of Flour
1/8 teaspoon of Paprika
1/2 cup of Half and Half
White Pepper to taste

Dumplings Ingredients:

6 Tablespoons of Shortening (Crisco)
3 cups of Flour
4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup of Milk

Preparation:

Prepare the dumplings first. Add to large processor bowl shortening, flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs, hold for later use.

Shred chicken, taking it off the bone and discarding the skin and hold for later use.
Drizzle oil in a large skillet or saucepan (opening should be big to make as many dumplings as possible and MUST have a tight fitting lid), sauté carrots to get them colored and hold for later use.
Continuing in the same skillet, melt butter, stir in flour (roux) and paprika and cook for 3 minutes, slowly adding Chicken Broth to roux, whisking until sauce is smooth, cook 2 minutes. Add Cream, pepper and reserved carrots and check seasoning. Toss in the peas.

Add milk to dumpling to mixture, mix to combine. Bring chicken sauce to a low rolling boil and drop dough bu small spoonfuls over boiling liquid. Get the dumplings in as quickly as possible so they cook evenly. Cook dumplings uncovered for 10 minutes (keep the liquid to JUST boiling) cover dumplings, reduce heat and continue to cook for 10 minutes more. dumplings are cooked when they are fluffy and dry on the inside, almost like biscuits.

You can make your own chicken broth by cooking a whole chicken in water with mirepoix**, cook the chicken for 90-120 minutes. Discard the mirepoix, using the chicken stock and chicken. When adding the chicken broth, make sure you have at least 5 cups, if not, make sure you add enough water to make 5 cups.

**Mirepoix is a mixture of onions, carrots and celery, typically used to make stock to add flavor.