Come To Me, My Leetle Dumpling

Tonight was a perfect evening for chicken and dumplings. It's been dark and drizzly all day.

I thought I'd take pictures of the process of making them, like some bloggers do. I didn't realize the effort it would take. Got sick of it after a couple of snaps. So I figured I'd post the first picture and then a picture of the final result.

We ate the final result before I remembered to snap a picture.

But here's the first pic (I hate to waste it):

And here's the recipe (from Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader):

Puny's Chicken and Dumplings

2 cups self-rising flour, more for rolling out the dough
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup buttermilk
4 1/2 cups chicken stock (make your own when stewing the chicken by adding onions, carrots, celery, salt and pepper to the water, or use store-bought)
3 Tbs unsalted butter
4 cups cooked chicken meat
1 cup milk

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper and sugar. Cut the shortening in with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and stir with a fork just until the dough forms a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until it is 1/8 inch thick and cut into 1-inch squares (a pizza wheel cutter works great).

In a large pot bring the chicken stock to a rolling boil, add the butter, and continue to keep the stock at a rolling boil. Gradually drop the dumplings in, one at a time, stirring to prevent sticking. Place the chicken meat on top of the dumplings and pour the milk over all. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until dumplings are cooked through. Do not remove the cover while the dumplings are cooking. After 20 minutes, remove the top and add more milk if the mixture is too dry. Serve immediately.

Take a picture if you think of it, before wolfing it down. Or not. It's too good to let sit around for very long. Trust me.