Once again I am plagerizing shamlessly from Cooks Illustrated.  My only defense is that I am a rabid fan and highly recommend that you subscribe to their monthly, or join the on-line family.  See www.cooksillustrated.com.   To me, chicken and dumplings are classic comfort food.  I plan on roasting a chicken the day before (and eating the best parts) and then using the leftovers to make the stew.   Of course I have home-made chicken stock in the freezer to draw from.  (No chicken stock in the freezer?  I highly recommend using a BIG pot (or Nesco) and make yourself several quarts of the brown gold.  Flavor aside (not said lightly), the nutritional benefits are outstanding.  (Sales pitch - we sell chicken stock packages {necks, backs, etc.}).  Don’t hesitate to call to talk about how to make stock. 

Classic Chicken and Herbed Dumplings with Aromatic Vegetables

3/1997

A touch of heavy (please use raw - this is my addition, of course) cream gives the dish a more refined look and rich flavor, but for a weeknight dinner, you may want to omit it. If you are in a hurry, you may poach boneless chicken breasts in low-sodium canned stock, then pull the breast into large pieces, and skip step 1 below.

Serves 6 to 8

1. For the Chicken: Heat deep 11- or 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add hacked-up chicken back, neck, and wings, and onion chunks; sauté until onion softens and chicken loses its raw color, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue to cook until chicken pieces give up most of their liquid, about 20 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, add 6 cups hot water, chicken parts (legs, thighs, and breasts), bay leaves, and 3/4 teaspoon salt, then bring to simmer. Reduce heat; continue to simmer, partially covered, until broth is flavorful and chicken parts are just cooked through, about 20 minutes longer. Remove chicken parts and set aside. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones in 2- to 3-inch chunks. Strain broth, discarding chicken pieces. Skim and reserve fat from broth and set aside 4 cups of broth, reserving extra for another use.

2. Meanwhile, bring 1/2-inch water to simmer in cleaned skillet fitted with steamer basket. Add vegetables; cover and steam until just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.

3. For the Dumplings: Mix flour, baking powder, herbs, and salt in medium bowl. Heat butter and milk to simmer and add to dry ingredients. Mix with a fork or knead by hand two to three times until mixture just comes together. Following illustrations below, form dough into desired shape; set aside.

4. Heat butter or reserved chicken fat in cleaned skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour and thyme; cook, whisking constantly, until flour turns golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Continuing to whisk constantly, gradually add sherry or vermouth, then reserved 4 cups chicken stock; simmer until gravy thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in optional cream and chicken and vegetables; return to simmer.

5. Lay formed dumplings on surface of chicken mixture; cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 10 minutes for strip dumplings and 15 minutes for balls and biscuit rounds. Gently stir in peas and parsley. Adjust seasonings, including generous amounts of salt and pepper. Ladle portion of meat, sauce, vegetables, and dumplings into soup plates and serve immediately.

STEP BY STEP: Cutting a Whole Chicken

1. With a sharp chef’s knife, cut through the skin around the leg where it attaches to the breast.	2. Using both hands, pop each leg out of its socket.
3. Use your chef’s knife to cut through the flesh and skin to detach each leg from the body.	4. A line of fat separates the thigh and drumstick. Cut through the joint at this point.
5. Using poultry sheers, cut down the ribs between the back and the breast to totally separate the back and wings from the breast.	6. Place a chef’s knife directly on the breast bone, then apply pressure to cut through the bone and separate the breasts.

STEP BY STEP: Dumplings

For flat noodle-like dumplings, roll dough to 1/8-inch and cut them into about 2-by-1/2-inch strips.	For biscuit-like dumplings, roll dough to 1/2-inch thick. Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter or a round drinking glass top to cut dough rounds.
For round puffy dumplings, divide dough into 18 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a rough round.

Things have been busy here - our cows have had over 70 babies in the last 4 weeks.  Except for one backwards one, everything has gone well.  If you can, stop at the farm to see the baby calves in their paddocks.  We have 2 paddocks right by the barn.  Each paddock has a large shelter bedded with warm straw, for those rainy days.  The paddocks are large each so that the calves can run around as needed.  Like little children, they can only sleep so much before they have to run around and play.  It’s so good to see the babies outside kicking up their heels and hopping about.  If you are lucky, you will be here when we move calves around.  Nothing like a new paddock to get the crew running with glee.

The raw milk issue continues to gain attention.  We were privilaged to speak to an Associated Press journalist from Milwaukee, who wanted to write an article about raw milk.  I know the article was picked up by several local newspapers.  Being an AP article, it could be picked up national wide.  The misinformation about the safety record of raw milk continues to frustrate.  Please go to the westonaprice.org web site and check out the “Raw Milk” site.  They have a rebuttal against the FDA powerpoint against raw milk.  Also on the wesonaprice.org web site is a PowerPoint presentation put together by Lee Dexter and Sally Fallon entitled “Raw Milk and Raw Milk Products, Safety, Health, Economic and Legal Issues”.

from “Joy of Cooking” (Simon and Schuster, 2006).

1 large bunch kale (about 1 pound), washed well, sliced and deribbed. (The center rib of kale is not really eatable.)

4 medium Yukon Gold (or other all purpose potatoes [about 1.25 pounds])

2 small onions

2 Tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon minced tarragon (go ahead and use dried)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 cups milk or half and half cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 2 quart shallow baking dish.

Steam kale (or gently saute) until almost tender, 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and cut potatoes (I leave the skins on myself), and onions into 1/8-inch thick rounds.  Drain kale (if steamed) and let stand until cool enough to handle.  Press out excess water and coarsely chop.  Build up alternating layers of potatoes, onions and kale (2 layers each) in baking dish, beginning and ending with potatoes and dotting each onion layer with butter, mincer tarragon, salt and peper.  Pour milk or half and half over the top.

Cover and bake in preheated oven until potatoes are tender and almost all liquid is absorbed, 30 to 45 minutes.  Place under broiler, if desired, to brown the top.

from The Chicago Sun-times, November 14, 2007, pg 43, by Richard Laurnet - Special to the Sun Times

“The federal government wants us to swallow yet another load of crap.  But don’t worry, it’s cooked, so it’s considered safe.

Meat contaminated with the E. coli bacteria is OK to sell if - get this - it is cooked first.  The federal government has allowed American meat companies to feed the nation tainted meat with this caveat.”

“Now federal meat inspectors have disclosed a little-known fact: A U.S. Agriculture Department regulation allows processing plants to sell meat that tests positive for E. coli.  The only stipulation is such meat carry a “cook only” label, a practice that allows companies to profit from millions of pounds of bad meat.  The USDA defended the rule, saying commercial cooking kills the bacteria and renders it safe to eat.  This type of meat is usually sold as precooked hamburger, meatloaf and taco filling.”

“Consumers may never again look at such pre-cooked “convenience” products the same way.  After all, where’s the convenience in gagging, retching and diarrhea?  If this loophole isn’t closed soon consumers will consider anything the government says about food safety just a load of, well, you know.”

Snippet from The Wisconsin State Farmer, January 18, 2008

Kay’s note: Does anyone else see a parallel between the distillery dairies back in the 20’s and this?

“The roll of ethanol and biodiesel - as fuel sources and co-product feeds for the livestock industry - is growing.  With traditional feed prices on the rise, feeding byproducts from the growing ethanol industry is becoming an attractive option - assuming producers resolve the fiber and unsaturated fat challenges.”