Chicken & Dumplin's

 One of my favorite southern dishes is definitely Chicken and Dumplings.  I grew up in South Carolina going to Cracker Barrell always, always, always getting Chicken and Dumplings with a double side of fried okra and biscuits.  When I moved away from the South I had to learn to make this dish myself so I didn't long for it for the rest of my life!  This recipe is incredible!  I absolutely love it.  It is really a super easy dish to make.  I always put the extra effort in to make the chicken stock from scratch but if you opt to use pre-made chicken stock instead you can whip up this dish in no time.  One of my little tricks to make my chicken stock extra rich and delicious is I throw in a chicken bullion cube in there with the water.  I love the results.  I actually add diced carrots to mine, though that isn't classically how it is made, I like the taste.  You can't see any carrots in the picture though as my entire family was begging to eat so I didn't have more than a minute or two to actually take a picture before everyone started eating all of the chicken and dumplings.  I tell you, this is one of those you gotta try it recipes!  You won't be disappointed.  I could eat this probably everyday for the rest of my life and die a happy happy woman.  

Note - This recipe does call for buttermilk in the dumplings, which as I've mentioned in my "Almost Buttermilk Biscuits" recipe, I don't have access to in Japan.  So, I've used 3/4 c. milk and 1/3 c. plain whole milk yogurt combined to substitute for buttermilk. 

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken Stock:
1 (3 to 31/2 pound) whole chicken
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
small handful of black peppercorns
1 head garlic, split through the equator
2 tablespoons salt
3 rough chopped whole carrots
2 rough chopped stalks celery

1 chicken bullion cube

8 c. Water  (roughly) 

Dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

For the stock:

Place the chicken and all stock ingredients in a large Dutch oven or large stock pot and cover with water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour until the chicken is tender. Skim the surface of fat and scum as it cooks. When done remove the chicken to a cutting board. Strain the stock and shred the meat into big pieces - the stock will be used for the sauce and the chicken will be folded into it.

To prepare sauce: In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Add the carrot, celery, garlic, and bay leaves and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Continue to stir and cook for 2 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Slowly pour in the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition to prevent lumps.  Let sauce simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Stir in heavy cream.  (If your sauce isn't thick enough at this point you can always cheat a bit and add a bit of cream to some corn starch to thicken your sauce.)

For the dumplings:
Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat the eggs, and buttermilk together; pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold. Mix just until the dough comes together; the batter should be thick and cake-like.

Fold the reserved shredded chicken into the sauce and bring up to a simmer. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping teaspoons of the dumpling batter into the hot mixture. The dumplings should cover the top of the sauce, but try not to completely crowd them. Let the dumplings poach for about 6 minutes then gently flip em' until they are firm and puffy. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season with freshly cracked black pepper.

Beer Braised Pot Roast

Tonight was pot roast night.  Gotta love pot roast.  It tastes like you spent all day slaving over the stove creating this amazing dish when you really just threw a bunch of things into a pot and let it cook a few hours with almost no effort.  That is why I love making it.  Seems that my dinner and dessert tonight were both out of a cookbook instead of my own tweaked recipes but again like the Molten Lava Cake, sometimes you find a recipe that is just so awesome there is no reason to change it.  I got this recipe out of The Neely's cookbook quite some time ago and just love it.  I do add a bit more broth (for extra gravy, of course) and carrots to mine though because I love carrots that have been slow roasted with meat.  If you want throw in some potatoes too!


Beer Braised Pot Roast

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 lb. chuck roast

12 oz. beer (I like usually use either Dos Equis or Rolling Rock)

1 ¼ c. beef broth

2 (.7oz) envelopes of Italian Dressing Mix

3 bay leaves

10-12 garlic cloves, smashed

1 bag peeled, roughly chopped carrots

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Heat oil in dutch oven. Generously salt and pepper the meat and sear in pan.  Turn off heat, whisk beer into dutch oven scraping brown bits off bottom and whisking until foam is almost gone.  Stir in broth, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, garlic and carrots.  Cover and bake 3 hours or until tender, turning over half way through.   

Hearty Beef & Bean Chili

My husband and I are both from South Carolina.  We now live in Washington because he is in the military.  One of the things we miss the most about the South is the cooking.  So I decided since we clearly can't go "home" for our southern favorites I'd have to learn to cook them myself. One of my favorites is chili.  There is nothing like a big bowl of spicy chili that has you looking for your antacids before the bowl is even empty.  It may be wrong but I believe a truly good bowl of chili should have you beating back the heartburn.  I've tried so many different chili recipes and this one is by far the best I've tried.  I think just tomato based chili's are lacking.  The beer added to it really gets it awesome flavor.  

Beef & Bean Chili 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onions, diced

1 large red bell pepper, diced

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

2 jalepenos, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ lbs. ground beef

1/4 c. chili powder (or to taste)

1 tbsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1 (12 oz.) beer

1 (28oz.) can fire roasted tomatoes (with juice)

1 (15oz.) can kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained & rinsed

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

Add olive oil to pan and heat to medium.  Toss in onions, bell pepper, jalapeños, and garlic and some salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes until starting to soften a bit.  Add in ground beef and cook until brown.  Add in your chili powder, cayenne and cumin and coat your meat mixture and cook a few minutes.  Pour in your beer, tomatoes, and beans.  Let simmer for about 30 minute.  Make sure to taste and add salt if necessary.  Add in the sugar and tomato paste and let cook another 5 minutes.  Serve with your favorite chili toppings.  Make sure to taste your chili before adding in the cayenne, sometimes the jalapeños are spicy enough other times they are more mild and you need that extra kick.  I also like to go heavy on my chili powder too so sometimes I add more than the recipe says, just what I'm in the mood for really.