Semi-simple chicken and dumplings?

[sawinredneck]

I talked the best half into a cast iron Dutch oven and I need to sell her on its virtues! It’s a 10qt, there are three of us, moderate eaters other than our 12yr old son. Anyone have a semi-simple mix I can throw together, put in the oven and have it ready when she gets home?
Thank you in advance.

[DerekP Houston]

I make chicken and dumplings all the time, not in the oven though, just on the stove in my dutch oven. You can use whatever chicken you have on hand, typically I take the left over bits from the rotisserie chickens and make soup with the leftovers.

1 Onion, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Pre-heat the pan and add a tablespoon or 2 of butter, once melted and sizzling add all the veggies, season with salt and pepper to taste. If you are using raw chicken add it now and season everything together. Cook for 5-10 minutes over medium heat until the onions are translucent.

I prefer mine "thick" without a lot of juice, so I use 2 cups of chicken stock (or 2 cups of water + 2 boullion cubes). You can add more liquid to your taste preference. Simmer the mix together for 10-15 minutes, or until the veggies are tender (depends on the size you cut them to). I add a splash of heavy cream to mine, then use a package of buttermilk biscuits for dumplings. The cheap ones work fine for me, just tear them into 3-4 pieces and scatter across the top of the soup. Put the lid on and let it simmer for another 10 minutes to cook the dough through.

If you are a veggie fan, I like to mix in a handful of baby spinach to add a little greens to the mix. Super easy and tasty, good way to use up whatever leftover chicken bits you have in the fridge. Double or triple the ingredients based on your hunger level . If you don't have much chicken just add more veggies or vice versa.

[sawinredneck]

Our Dutch oven has the legs, I don’t think it’ll get enough heat off the stove, glass flat top, to heat up.

[MaryB]

If adding chicken stock or bullion Better Than Bullion is my go to stuff. Less salt than the cubes, way more chicken flavor. It is a chicken base and a paste. Opened jar can sit in the fridge a year and not spoil due to the salt content. But mine never get to sit that long! They make it in Beef, Chicken, Turkey, Ham, Veggie... and some flavors I can't remember! Even a lower salt version. Walmart carries the beef, chicken and veggie versions. The veg base is great for boosting flavor in a stew!

[yeahbub]

Mine has legs too, but it works great in the oven.

[GhostHawk]

Mary's right about the better than bouilion in a jar. Good stuff.

I made mine a week ago.

Simple pot on the stove, 3 chicken thighs, some bouilon, salt, poultry seasoning and just a touch of curry powder. Simmer for 2 hours. Remove chicken, cool, shred meat from the bone feeding skin to the dog (and myself)

Meat back in the pot on simmer, start on the rest.

In a bowl cup of flour, 1 egg, some milk, not a lot. Start mixing, when it is right the dough starts "ragging" coming apart in shreds as I mix it. Dump it onto a clean cooking sheet well dusted with flour. Scrape the bowl. Kneed a bit, then grab the rolling pin and start rolling. When it gets less than 1/4 inch thick fold it in half and roll some more. I like to layer it at least 4-5 times.

Then I grab a plastic pizza cutter with a nice sharp round wheel and start slicing.

Somewhere between 1-2 inches long, and 1/4 to 3/8ths of an inch wide is about ideal.

I'll take about 1/3 of the off shaped ones, roll them into an olive sized ball, cut them in half. To make little hard nerds. The noodles and nerds get tossed with a bit of flour, then spread out to dry.

Then I grab the bisquick and make dumplings. This makes the soft fluffy ones that float on top.

About 15 min before supper I dump in all the noodles and nerds. Follow with dumplings, turn to a slow simmer and cover.

Viola, a meal fit for a king and good eating leftovers for a few days. The noodles come out almost square, like french fry size, chewing, with some real texture to them. The nerds are SOLID. Real joy there. And the fluffy dumplings soak up that gravy. Loaded with flavor.

Thats mine, probably boring.

[Reverend Al]

If you're in a hurry (or trying to keep it dead simple) the Bisquick is the easy answer for the dumplings. If you like more flavour like I do then add some garlic powder, onion powder, sage, and parsley to the Bisquick mix and it'll give you a batch of tasty savory dumplings rather than just plain ones. Just my personal preference since I like a bit more flavour in my dumplings ...

[Fishman]

Ghosthawk has it right. Best chicken to use is thighs and slow cook them to get the goodness out of them. I like dumplings to be noodles rather than biscuit but both are good. Ratio is one cup flour, one egg, and water enough to make a hard dough. Mix with fork, roll flat and cut, I prefer thick noodles and plenty of them. No veggies, thanks. Seasoning is simple salt and pepper with 3-4 bay leaves. This is a basic recipe handed down from my Grandma and Mom and modified a bit by me. 3-4 thighs, 3 cups flour, 3 eggs and you have a bunch of dinner. Again, cook the chicken at least an hour, two or more is better.

[MaryB]

To bad chicken wings have become so high priced... I remember buying huge bags dirt cheap and they make the best stock!

[Boaz]

Mary's right about the better than bouilion in a jar. Good stuff.

I made mine a week ago.

Simple pot on the stove, 3 chicken thighs, some bouilon, salt, poultry seasoning and just a touch of curry powder. Simmer for 2 hours. Remove chicken, cool, shred meat from the bone feeding skin to the dog (and myself)

Meat back in the pot on simmer, start on the rest.

In a bowl cup of flour, 1 egg, some milk, not a lot. Start mixing, when it is right the dough starts "ragging" coming apart in shreds as I mix it. Dump it onto a clean cooking sheet well dusted with flour. Scrape the bowl. Kneed a bit, then grab the rolling pin and start rolling. When it gets less than 1/4 inch thick fold it in half and roll some more. I like to layer it at least 4-5 times.

Then I grab a plastic pizza cutter with a nice sharp round wheel and start slicing.

Somewhere between 1-2 inches long, and 1/4 to 3/8ths of an inch wide is about ideal.

I'll take about 1/3 of the off shaped ones, roll them into an olive sized ball, cut them in half. To make little hard nerds. The noodles and nerds get tossed with a bit of flour, then spread out to dry.

Then I grab the bisquick and make dumplings. This makes the soft fluffy ones that float on top.

About 15 min before supper I dump in all the noodles and nerds. Follow with dumplings, turn to a slow simmer and cover.

Viola, a meal fit for a king and good eating leftovers for a few days. The noodles come out almost square, like french fry size, chewing, with some real texture to them. The nerds are SOLID. Real joy there. And the fluffy dumplings soak up that gravy. Loaded with flavor.

Thats mine, probably boring.

Though I don't do it exactly like that ...it's close . Yep Bisquick is best! Using biscuits is the lazy way but still dang good , my standard method to make em 'easy' , but always roll em ...better dumpling that don't dissolve in the cooking . Got to have a lot of black pepper in dumplings !

[MT Gianni]

10 quart would be huge, 10"? IIRC my 14" is a 6 quart. I like to fry 1/2 lb of bacon. add 1/2 sliced baseball size, layer chicken and add the other onion half when the chicken is at the halfway point. Bake for one hour then serve. I add biscuits on the side.

[Thundarstick]

Best to use an old rooster if you want flavor, but you don't get those at the grocery.

Easy as it gets. Boil a chicken, remove bones and skin, put the meat back in the stock, salt and pepper to taste, a can of the cheapest canned biscuits you can buy pinched into thirds allowed to cook into the broth. The secret is don't stir too much or cook at too high a heat. Easy peasy!

IMHO when you start adding much else you have chicken soup or chicken stew with fat noodles.

[WRideout]

Ghosthawk has it right. Best chicken to use is thighs and slow cook them to get the goodness out of them. I like dumplings to be noodles rather than biscuit but both are good. Ratio is one cup flour, one egg, and water enough to make a hard dough. Mix with fork, roll flat and cut, I prefer thick noodles and plenty of them. No veggies, thanks. Seasoning is simple salt and pepper with 3-4 bay leaves. This is a basic recipe handed down from my Grandma and Mom and modified a bit by me. 3-4 thighs, 3 cups flour, 3 eggs and you have a bunch of dinner. Again, cook the chicken at least an hour, two or more is better.

If you like the flat noodle-style dumplings, you can cut up flour tortillas and use those. Works pretty good.
Wayne