The Cookbook

Chicken with Cornmeal Dumplings

...but it's more like pot pie.

Ingredients:

1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp gound sage
12 oz skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 Tbsp cooking oil
2 C frozen mixed vegetables
1 14oz can reduced-sodium chicken broath
1/2 C milk
1 11.5 oz pkg refrigerated cornbread twists
1/2 C shredded Mexican cheese blend

Prep:

1. preheat oven to 450 deg F. In resealable bag, combine flour, sage, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Cut chicken in bite-size pieces. Add to bag: coat.

2. in skillet over medium-high heat stir and brown chicken in hot oil for 2 minutes. In collander, run cold water over vegetables. Add vegetables along with broth and milk to chicken. Bring to boiling; stir. Divide chicken-vegetable mixture among four small baking dishes. Separate cornbread strips; place four strips over chicken-vegetable mixture in each dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 9 to 10 minutes. Serves 4.

FYI: I couldn't find the cornbread sticks at either HEB or WalMart so made with garlic breadsticks instead. VERY GOOD. Also, I put it all into a casserole dish and made it in one pan. Works fine. Just bake until breadsticks are good and brown.

baylorgradsmom

Dumplings

Boil a chicken until fully cooked. You can add veggies and seasonings to the water, but not too much, as you need to cook it down just a smidge.
Debone the chicken and return the bones and skin to the pot, and add just enough water to cover if needed.
Simmer for 1-2 hours to get all the good stuff out of them.
Drain bones and skin and veggies (if added), reserving the broth only. Keep at a simmer and add the chicken back into the pot.

Dumplings: 1 1/4 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 T butter (chilled and cut small)
1/2 C milk

Stir dry ingredients together, then cut butter into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse corn meal.
Stir in milk. Drop by spoonfuls into pot. Cook for 8 minutes.
I choose to have a floured counter and roll out the dumplings. I find that my family likes it better that way. Just use a pizza cutter to make small squares. I wouldn't roll out more than 1/4" thin. Same cook time.

Ninja Kat