Chicken and Dumplings, anyone?

OK, so I had a request to put this on the blog. Erika asked, I delivered ... finally. My long time friend Erika, from JMU, went home with me one weekend in college. She had never had chicken and dumplings, but my Mom whipped them up one night and Erika fell in love. Almost 10 years later, she is still asking me for the recipe! My mom doesn't really "use recipes" half the time. I ask for them and her response is usually..."Honey, I don't really follow a recipe. I don't even remember what goes in it. Let's see -- put in a little of this, little of that, etc." You get the picture. This go around, I decided to merge the vague direction she gave me, love you Mom :), with a recipe I found online, and a few minor tweaks on my end. Ultimately, it came out pretty well, but I have a feeling it will be even better tomorrow!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/3-inch-thick slices
• 2 celery ribs, cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices
• 2 cups of cut yellow potatoes (I used the small potatoes and cut them in quarters)
• 2 teaspoons salt (more to taste if necessary)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (more to taste if necessary)
• few dashes of garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• Can of biscuits (or you can make these, but I frankly didn't have time)

Bring water and broth to a simmer in a 2 to 3 quart saucepan. Add chicken and simmer, uncovered, 6 minutes. Remove pan from heat and cover, then let stand until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and cool 10 minutes. Reserve poaching liquid, uncovered.

While chicken is poaching, cook onion in oil in a 4-quart heavy pot, covered, over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add carrots, celery, potatoes, salt, and pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add poaching liquid and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

While vegetables are cooking, shred chicken into 1/4-inch-wide strips (about 1 inch long). When vegetables are done simmering, stir chicken into soup along with parsley and garlic powder to taste. Cut 3-4 biscuits into quarters and drop into soup. Put the lid back on the pan and simmer on low until biscuits plump up and briefly cook.

 

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings with Dipping Sauce

Friday night, a group of us went out since Scott T was in town from Germany. I decided to have a pregame here with some food of course :) This was my first attempt at steamed shrimp dumplings/potstickers...but they turned out well!

Dumplings:

1/2 pound shrimp (peeled and deveined works best)

1/2 cup drained canned water chestnuts


2 scallions


1 large egg white


1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh gingerroot


3 tablespoons soy sauce


14 won ton wrappers, thawed if frozen (I found them in the produce section, refrigerated)


1/2 teaspoon sugar

In a food processor purée 3 shrimp. Rinse and drain water chestnuts. Finely chop water chestnuts and remaining shrimp. Finely chop scallion greens, reserving white parts for another use. Lightly beat egg white and put 1 tablespoon in a bowl. Stir in puréed and chopped shrimp, water chestnuts, about two thirds each of scallion greens and gingerroot, and 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Put 7 won ton wrappers on a dry surface, keeping remaining wrappers in package, and lightly brush edges with water. Mound about 1 tablespoon filling in center of each wrapper. Fold each wrapper over filling to form a triangle. Press down around filling to force out excess air and seal edges well. Make additional dumplings with remaining wrappers and filling in same manner.  I used a bamboo steamer, which I just placed over a pot of boiling water. It took about 5 minutes for each batch of dumplings. Serve with dipping sauce (recipe below).

Dipping Sauce:
In a small bowl stir together sugar and remaining scallion greens, gingerroot, and soy sauce to make dipping sauce.