Scarborough FoodFair: Chicken and Dumplings

Oh goodness gracious. Where do I even begin?

Apologies first? That's usually how we do things around here. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

A) I told you I would update regularly about the adventures of the My Politic tour and...it didn't happen. However, there was no internet provided at the campgrounds, so I feel as though I should be excused for that one.
B) I also planned on doing some fun blogs while home...Also didn't happen. I crammed too many things into a very short amount of time. Typical.
C) And just to cover the bases on why I haven't blogged since I've been back in Boston...I bought a sewing machine and therefore I do nothing but sit in my room rocking it back and forth in my arms. And sometimes I make things.

Excuse list...check. Moving forward.

To keep it short and sweet about the tour let's just say that I hope My Politic gets famous sometime in the near future so that going on tour (without having to actually do anything) can be my life. My occupation: Tour Bus Cook. Hello dream world, you seem nice. And to clarify...Yes I am absolutely living with these two smelly boys for that sole possibility of a reason.

Ready? Ready for the food?

Of course you are! First I need to tell you a bit about Wade's Mill Flour which you will see in some of the pictures. Being the over the top organizer that I am, I made sure that we had some fun and interesting places to stop on the way to Missouri and in between shows. One of those places happened to be Wade's Mill, which was a family mill built in 1750 and is one of the only mill's to still produce flour exclusively on mill stones. Pretty neat huh? We were fortunate enough to get a grand tour of the entire place by the miller himself while he told stories and gave us a rundown on how everything worked. It was a great stop and we ended up buying some of their flour, beer bread mix, and some local cheese. I highly encourage you to visit their website, businesses like his are far too rare these days!

To commemorate the trip way down South I decided to make...

Chicken and Dumplings -with help from the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Whole Chicken (A cut up fryer is perfect!)
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup diced Carrots
1/2 cup diced Celery
1 whole medium Onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
6 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Apple Cider (I actually had cranberry cider but didn't use it since we had a cinnamon allergy in the house. Either would be delicious though!)
1/2 cup Heavy Cream

Dumplings:

1 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Yellow Cornmeal
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cup Half-and-Half
2 Tablespoons minced fresh Parsley
Salt as needed


1. Salt and Pepper both sides of chicken. I ended up throwing some Old Bay seasoning and Lemon Pepper on them as well. Just a nice light coat of seasonings.

2. This isn't really a step. Just advertising for Wade's Mill. Go buy some! Subtle?

3. Measure out 1/2 cup of flour, put it in a pan, and dredge each piece of chicken in flour.

4. Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a pan.


5. Brown the chicken in the melted butter. This seems unnecessary but it locks in some great flavor. And remember it doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. Just browned on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside.

6. Dice all of your veggies.

7. Dump them into the pot with 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil and saute for 3-4 minutes.

8. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Thyme.

9. And 1/4 teaspoon of Turmeric.

10. Then the 6 cups of Chicken Broth.

11. This is Ashley not pouring in the Apple Cider since she is allergic. But this is where it would go in. Silly allergies.

12. Now add in your browned chicken.

13. Cover pot and let simmer for 20 minutes.

14. While the pot is simmering make your dumpling batter. Combine 1 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1 Tablespoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt.


15. First, this is a great pouring capture. It looks like the half-and-half is waving. Add 1 1/2 cup half-and-half and mix with wooden spoon. Set aside.

16. Dishes break! Our little kitchen can only handle so much.

17. After the chicken has simmered for 20 minutes, take it out and start pulling it apart. This gets a bit slimy.

18. I think this is precious. Monty patiently waited by the table just hoping for some scraps.

19. Put chicken back in pot.

20. Add 1/2 cup heavy cream.

21. Dumpling time! Grab a tablespoon and plop them into the pot. I obviously didn't go for the round and perfect looking dumpling.


22. Once all of your dumplings are added, add the fresh parsley and cover the pot half way to let simmer for another 15 minutes. This allows the dumplings to cook in the middle.