Farm Style Chicken & Dumplins: RECIPE

Comfort food, Soul food, Southern food - those fragrant meals that remind you of Mama's kitchen! Such culinary delights that nourish body and soul are still popular in rural southern cooking. This family favorite, Farm Style Chicken & Dumplins, is pure comfort food - a warm, cozy hug of a meal!

'Chicken and Dumplings' could be a quick and easy dish to prepare using store bought broth, chicken and canned biscuits, but I believe that the heart and soul of true comfort food lies in the preparation. No stock off the shelf will fill your house with the tempting aromas wafting from a pot full of home brew.

Drag out the apron and rolling pin and dedicate an afternoon to Farm Style Chicken & Dumplins - your efforts will be rewarded with sighs of praise as the family enjoys the tender chicken and plump, delicate dumplins swimming in rich gravy - all made from scratch.

Farm Style Chicken & Dumplins
Chicken & Stock
1 large, whole chicken
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
3 carrots, cut into chunks
3 stalks of celery, cut into chunks
3 Chicken bouillon cubes
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Dumplins
3 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 Tablespoons lard or shortening
1 cup whole milk

Clean the chicken (remove neck, gizzards and other accessories, rinse chicken under cool, running water). Place chicken, onion, carrots, celery, and bouillon in a large (6 qt) stock pot and cover with about 1 gallon of water; season to taste with salt & pepper. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to Medium and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour or until cooked through (165°).

When chicken is done, remove from the stock and let it cool on a plate.

Remove vegetables from the stock (cool & feed to the goat). You should have about 8 cups of the stock remaining, which is perfect.

As the chicken cools, prepare the dumplins. (Note: I use cake flour for dumplins lighter than air, but all-purpose will work in a pinch.) Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together in bowl. Cut lard (or shortening) into flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk, 1/4 cup at a time (you may not need the full cup), and mix with fingers until dough forms a ball. The key to perfect dumplins: do not over-work the dough. Roll out the dough about 1/4" thick on a well floured surface - all purpose flour is fine here. Cut into rectangles about 1" wide and a couple inches long. Lay them out on floured waxed paper, sprinkle with flour and allow to firm up for 30 minutes or so. It's good to be generous with the flour here, because that is what thickens your stock into a creamy gravy.

Now, bring the chicken stock back to a slow boil. While the stock comes up to temp, remove chicken from the bone and shred into bite-sized pieces and set aside; discard bones and skin.

Drop dumplins, one by one, into boiling stock. I like to let each one drop and pop back up before adding the next. When they're all in, use a wooden spoon to move them gently from side to side; stir with too much vigor and you'll break the dumplins into clumps of dough. Reduce heat to Low and simmer for about 10 minutes to plump up the dumplins and thicken the gravy. Add chicken; cover and simmer for additional 20-30 minutes.

Farm Style Chicken & Dumplins are a delicious side dish, served with turkey or fried chicken, or as a meal (like spaghetti, but with a southern accent).

TELL ME ABOUT IT! What's your favorite comfort food?

Fire-Roasted Candied Pecans: RECIPE

Like most good southern cooks, I have a recipe for Candied Pecans filed away under Holiday Baking. But it's summertime in The South and heating the house with the oven is the last thing I want to do!   

My sweet tooth is craving those crunchy treats though, and I'm not willing to shell out the bug bucks at the mall so... To the grill I go!   

We fire up the charcoal grill at least five times a week in the summer, and I typically add wet *Applewood Chunks for delectable, smokey flavor. Today's menu includes deer sausage, home grown steak, garlic baked potatoes, and...

Fire-Roasted Candied Pecans!

*TIP!! When soaking wood chunks use just enough liquid to cover them. Wood soaked in a mix of half water/half honey whiskey gives an amazing flavor to food!  


I had intended to trial-run this recipe with pecans but most of my supply has disappeared (into the mouths of babes?) so today I used a combination of 1-1/2 cups pecans and 1/2 cup walnuts. I imagine almonds would be delicous as well.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups pecans
1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients in a one-gallon ziploc bag, shake well to fully coat the nuts. Spray a sheet of foil with nonstick spray and secure it on grill rack. An upper rack is perfect if you have one as indirect heat roasts the nuts without burning the sugar. Slow roasting is the key to great flavor!
Spread coated pecans in an even layer on the foil. Roast through the syrupy stage and until syrup crystalizes, stirring occasionally.

I was cooking on an open grill for about 45 minutes then I allowed the nuts to cook an additional 45 minutes with the grill closed, for a total of 90 minutes. Had I kept the grill closed for the entire process the nuts probably would have been finished in 45 minutes or less.

Results? Out of this world! Reminds me of Aunt Ruby's Pecan Pie. They are sweet - but not too sweet - and crunchy; mellow  with cinnamon and vanilla and those sultry,  smokey undertones...

These Fire Roasted Candied Pecans would be delightful on oatmeal, ice cream or cinnamon rolls - but I don't think this batch will last that long.   Maybe next time...in fact, I have an idea for a Grown Up version...

But that will be another post~
See you then!

Vanilla Coffee Syrup Recipe: Vanilla Bean Dreams

 While plundering through the pantry last weekend I perceived a prize! A lone Vanilla Bean,  properly stored in a cool, deep corner.  Peacefully he rested, content in Vanilla Bean Dreams of muffins and ice cream - little knowing, or caring, that his fate lay instead as the foundation for not one but two culinary delights.

As I mentioned in my recent post "Farmhouse Signature Vanilla Iced Coffee", I have become a huge fan of iced coffees! The recipe in that post calls for Torani (TM) Vanilla Flavoring Syrup and the recipe makes an amazing glass of coffee.  I was sure that I had created THE perfect vanilla iced coffee...but isn't there always room for improvement. Yes. Yes there is.

Over the course of several days I have toyed around with several mini-batches, all based on simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) and vanilla. Along the way I have adjusted the amount of vanilla and the type of sugar, always sparing the Bean. I knew that the syrup must be near-perfect before the Bean could be introduced for, as every kitchen artist knows, vanilla beans are quite pricey!

Each trial batch has yielded a good vanilla syrup - and several quart jars of good vanilla iced coffee. But I'm not reaching for good - I'm reaching for excellence!  I believe that excellence has been achieved today. Vanilla Bean Dreams that exceed my greatest expectation are coming to life now in a Mason Jar full of the best tasting beverage I've ever enjoyed.

I have poured a very "clean" iced coffee; this is coffee, milk, ice and Vanilla Bean Dreams Syrup. There is no ice cream, non dairy creamer or added sugar, as I don't want any taste interference. It is really good, with a complex flavor profile I have not found with prior recipes, and I attribute that to the specific ingredients used.

So without further ado...the recipe:

VANILLA BEAN DREAMS SYRUP 
     3 1/2 cups distilled water
     3 cups granulated sugar
     1/2 cup dark brown sugar
     1 vanilla bean
     3 tablespoons vanilla extract
Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a clean, pint mason jar.
Place bean pod into a medium saucepan along with the water and sugars. Cook over medium-high heat for approximately 15 minutes, stirring constantly. Mixture should come to a slow boil and become thick and syrupy. Cool completely and stir in vanilla extract. Fill sterile quart mason jar with cooled syrup, making sure to include vanilla bean. Cover tightly with lid; store in a cool place.

Vanilla Bean Dreams Syrup, in place of Torani's, brings Farmhouse Signature Vanilla Iced Coffee to a sweet crescendo, and should be a divine addition to milkshakes, yogurt, lattes...let your imagination run wild!

But wait...there's more! What about those vanilla bean seeds we painstakingly scraped out of the pod? Surely they won't go to waste?

Don't take your apron off just yet...we have one more thing to do!

BONUS!!!  

VANILLA BEAN DREAMS INFUSED SUGAR
     Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
     2 cups granulated sugar
Pour 1 cup of sugar into the pint jar containing the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean when the syrup was made. Cover tightly with lid and shake vigorously to incorporate the seeds into the sugar. When the seeds are quite evenly distributed add the 2nd cup of sugar, replace lid and shake again.
Allow the vanilla infused sugar to sit for a week or more, shaking or stirring occasionally. Vanilla Bean Dreams Infused Sugar can be used in place of regular, granulated sugar in tea or coffee, sprinkled over oatmeal, or as a topping for fresh fruit.

So there you go! Two lovely, gourmet-quality sweeteners from a single Vanilla Bean!   Packaged beautifully, this pair would make a darling birthday, holiday or hostess gift and what a perfect way to say "thank you...for making life sweeter!"

I would like to point out a few things about three of the key ingredients in the syrup recipe. In my trials I did find that these specific ingredients truly affected the flavor of the final product.

1) Distilled Water
Simply stated, water chemistry affects flavor. This recipe will call for sugar to be melted - we absolutely do not want the sugar to burn! After a couple of trials I realized that the mineral content of tap water is too high to get a clean syrup.  As the syrup boils down, mineral deposits from tap water form on the sides of the saucepan. The thickened syrup sticks to the deposits, forming a crust which blackens and burns around the edges. Using distilled water helps keep the syrup from taking on a burnt taste.

2) Dark Brown Sugar
While brown sugar makes up only a fraction of the sugar required for this recipe, it is a key component. The molasses in brown sugar adds depth and richness to the syrup and amplifies the vanilla.

3) Vanilla
For this recipe I layered the vanilla flavor by using both vanilla extract and vanilla bean.
*The vanilla bean enters the scene in the first act, releasing flavor as the syrup cooks down, and will remain in the finished syrup. The bean pod will continue to add essence as it lingers.
*Vanilla extract is added after the syrup has cooled. As extract is alcohol-based, adding it while the syrup is hot would allow the alcohol, and the vanilla flavor, to evaporate without fully infusing the syrup. And that would never do!

I hope you enjoy the Vanilla Bean Dreams recipes as much as i do! As always, your questions and comments are appreciated.

Until next time... 
Good night and, 

• Sweet Vanilla Bean Dreams!