The Whole Pot

I've talked about my roasted chicken, the gravy, the dumplings, so now I'm putting it all together. Tonight we're having chicken and dumplings.

Two nights ago we had chicken dinner with some of the chicken breasts from my roasted chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, and a veggie.

Tonight I used the dark meat, the left over gravy, some extra chicken broth, the leftover mashed potatoes, and 1/2 a bag of Birds Eye mixed veggies to make the soup to which I added my dumplings mentioned in another post.

The recipe for the gravy is in the Chicken #1 blog post, but I'll add it here, so you don't have to flip back:

For my gravy, I have made some recent changes, that I really enjoy. I take whatever drippings come off the the chicken, put them in a small sauce pan, and turn up the temperature. Add 1/2 a stick of salted butter, let the juices come to a boil but not too hard. Take about 1/4 cup flour, and mix in about a cup of lukewarm water. Whisk this thoroughly in a mug or bowl, and add quickly to boiling chicken broth/butter. Continue whisking until smooth, and turn temperature down to low. This can be used as a cream of chicken soup or as a gravy. If you want it to be more of a cream of chicken soup, you may want to use milk rather than water with the flour.

The mashed potatoes are really tricky. I buy the Bob Evans already made potatoes in the refrigerator section. Yes, it is a splurge, but it is worth it. The taste is the best.

My reason for using Birds Eye mixed veggies is because they include all of the best veggies and leave out the ones that might not add the flavors you would like. They are the only brand I have found to work for things like this and shepherd's pie.

So tonight I took a large pot, dropped in the torn-up dark meat, added in the cold gravy, started it cooking, and added about 1-2 cups of chicken broth. To that I added the leftover mashed potatoes (about 1 cup). The gravy, broth, and potatoes blended to a perfect consistency. Adding a little more salt and pepper might be a necessity to bring out the rich flavors you desire. Once all of this comes to a boil, it's time to do the dumplings.

Tonight my dumplings included the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box for dumplings with some basil, thyme, sage, and dill weed mixed in. More other dumpling recipe had other flavors, but you can change it up to suit your tastes for the day. Make your dumplings into balls and carefully put them in the top of your pot. Cover the pot and let them cook to the consistency that you like. I like them to be soft yet slightly biscuit-like inside.

Enjoy