Chicken & Dumpling Soup

A few weeks ago, my son came down with a nasty cold that rapidly spread to the entire family.  While we were all lying around sniffling and coughing, dinner was the furthest thing from my mind.  

But I had a chicken in the refrigerator that needed to be cooked and my husband looked at me pitifully and asked if I could please make him some soup.  Since everyone knows that chicken noodle soup is that cure for a nasty cold, I obliged (I’m such a fabulous wife!)

I am so glad that I ended up making this soup!  It absolutely hit the spot (and we felt a lot better than we would have had we eaten fast food).  I highly recommend a big bowl of this soup next time you are under the weather.

Recipe Notes:

*Always bring the water to a boil before adding the chicken (or any other meat) to a soup.  This will keep the broth clear.  Adding the meat first results in a cloudy broth.

*In the recipe, I’ve added “vegetable scraps” as an ingredient.  Use whatever you have on hand (I keep a bag of scraps in my freezer), but do note that vegetables like beets and mushrooms will change the color of your soup and tomatoes will change the taste.

*If you like your dumplings to be a uniform size, roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick and cut into small squares with a pizza cutter.

Chicken & Dumpling Soup

An Amy’s Cooking Adventures Original Recipe 

Stock

2 quarts (8 cups) of water

1 whole chicken (without giblets)

1-2 carrots

1 onion

Vegetables or vegetable scraps

          (I had several withered carrots, a turnip, a broccoli stem and half an onion)

3 whole black peppercorns

½ - 1 tbsp sea salt

Soup

3 large carrots, cut into coins

2 eggs, beaten

1 ¼ cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Additional salt to taste

Place the water in a large stock pot and bring to a boil.  Add in the chicken, vegetables, peppercorns, and salt, return to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 60-90 minutes.

Remove the vegetables and peppercorns; discard.  Remove the chicken, separating the meat from the skin and bones.   Shred the meat into small pieces and set aside; discard the rest.  Strain the stock to remove any missed solids.

Increase the heat to medium, bring the stock to a low boil and add in the carrots.   Meanwhile, stir together the eggs, flour, salt, and baking soda until if forms a smooth ball.  Roll the dough into a log.  Using a pair of kitchen shears, cut small bits of dough off directly into the boiling water.  I actually hold the dough over the pot and cut the dough right in – do beware of splashing water.

Finally, add in about half of the reserved chicken (or all of it if you like a lot) and simmer for 10-20 minutes.  Serve hot.  Feel better.

Serves 4

Enjoy!

YAmy