chicken 'n dumplin's

Growing up, my father always used to make chicken and dumplings, which for some reason he always called pot pie. Just one of those weird things, I guess. At any rate, I was casting about for something to do with leftover roast chicken recently, and I found a recipe for chicken & dumplings using leftover rotisserie. The recipe is here, but read on before clicking. (Also, be advised it auto-plays music.)

The recipe called for the meat from a rotisserie chicken and "two cartons" of broth, so I knew I was off to a questionable start, but I decided to forge ahead - the two cups or so of leftover chicken that I had more or less resembled the amount pictured, and since the brand of broth they used comes in 16 or 32 oz cartons, I figured out quickly that just one quart wasn't going to get it done.

A side note: I used one of those 'instant broth' goops that are replacing bullion these days. I haven't had a lot of success making it in quantities measured in cups, but by the quart it didn't suck. YMMV.

Anyway the gist is simple - boil two quarts of broth, add 1/4 cup milk, make dumplings, cook dumplings 20 minutes, add chicken & cook another 10 minutes, enjoy. I added a package of frozen vegetable medley (beans, corn, peas, carrots) just before the chicken and it came out really well. The problem was the dumplings - this recipe was just two cups of flour, two tsp baking soda, one of salt, and 3/4 cup of milk. The final product was kind of chewey, and kind of tasteless, which I guess one should expect from the recipe, but still. I finally broke down and emailed my father to find out how he made his. The answer, apparently, is that his are just 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup shortening, and ice water until it makes dough. No wonder they taste better.

I'll try this again the next time we roast a chicken, hopefully with more success.

americana, thy name is meatloaf

A while back, I went off red meat for a year or two. During this time, I used ground turkey an awful lot, because I wasn't really that in to cooking yet, and ground meat is easy to deal with. I've long since started eating beef again, but turkey still tends to be my default ground meat - it's lighter, doesn't overpower seasonings, and generally cheaper.

At any rate, I've been experimenting lately with turkey meatloaf, and I'm quite pleased with the results. My first attempt (adapted from this recipe) was extremely basic - two pounds of turkey, two eggs, a cup of bread crumbs, some onion, a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, some poultry season sprinkled on top, 350° for 60 minutes. It came out well, if somewhat boring. Also the onion was overpowering, and I hadn't chopped it anywhere near thoroughly enough. The texture was okay - I think I used a potato masher to mix it all up, but I didn't feel like that had done a very effective job.

Then I tried something a little bit more like the basic recipe here. Two pounds turkey, two eggs, two tablespoons W. sauce, 1/2 cup of oats soaked in 1/3 cup of milk, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, and some onion. The result was a lot more ... damp. It didn't hold together terribly well, although the taste wasn't bad. The texture was also too smooth, largely because I used an electric mixer, which was a terrible idea, but I was tired that day, and it seemed sensible at the time.

So last night I did the turkey, eggs, sauce, a cup of crumbs, a much smaller amount of very finely diced onion, and about a cup of shredded cheese. Also, I added garlic & paprika, mixed it all by hand (literally, I just gloved up and squished it around for a while), and sprinkled curry powder over the top. This time it had to cook a little longer - about 75 minutes was the final total - but I was really impressed with how well it turned out. The texture was rough, but it didn't crumble the second you cut it. The flavor came out very well, and I love how the top crisped.

So, anyway. The classic suburban dinner, updated a little. Enjoy.