Winter Warmer? How about Chicken and Dumplings?????

Chicken and dumplings is a delicious filling winter warmer, the only really awkward bit I found with this recipe was making sure the dumplings didn’t get submerged in the cooking liquid. It’s funny, I made this recipe in April 2010 approximately, and I remember thinking at the time, that it was going to be quite complicated “culinary taxing” but looking back I realise it wasn’t really that hard to do!

Chicken And Dumplings

2 ½ - 3lbs Chicken
3 cups water
1 medium onion cut into wedges
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp dried sage
¼ tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cup thinly sliced carrot
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup cold water
¼ cup flour

1. In a dutch oven combine the chicken, water, onion, salt, sage, pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for about 25 minutes, add the vegetables and return to a boil, reduce the heat again, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is no longer pink. Discard the bay leaf, and place the chicken on top of the vegetables.
2. Meanwhile prepare the dumplings. In a medium bowl combine 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt, cut in 2 tbsp shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add ½ cup buttermilk, stir in until just moistened. Spoon the batter into six mounds on top of the chicken, and return to a boil. Reduce the heat again, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked through, check with a toothpick, it should come out clean. Transfer the chicken, dumplings and vegetables to the serving plate and keep warm.
3. Now make your gravy, pour 2 cups of your cooking liquid into a large measuring cup, skim the fat and discard. Then pour into a saucepan. Mix ½ cup of cold water with flour then add to the cooking liquid, stir continuously until thickened. Serve gravy over the chicken and dumplings.