Heather, who lives with Stephen and Heather, let us use her new kitchen when we visited them last weekend.
We cooked chicken & dumplings and chicken pie.
I will share with you all of these recipes, but I would like to start today with the recipe for Chicken Pie.
This recipe can be used in many different ways.
The same recipe can be made into chicken and dumplings, chicken pie, or chicken and vegetables by simply adding a crust. You can also add any other cooked vegetables you prefer.
Boiling the chicken is the first step in making any dish, whether it’s chicken pie or chicken with dumplings.
You can use a whole bird or 3 to 4 large breasts.
You will need to use breasts with skin and bone if you want to make a good broth.
Remove the cooked chicken from the pot, and cool it down on a pan or plate.
You can mix the dough in a food processor.
Add the flour, Crisco, salt, and shortening to the food processor. Slowly add 1 cup of broth until you have a dough ball.
You can make dough without a food processor by using a pastry blade or two sharp knives.
We now roll out the dough.
Before I roll out the dough, I like to place wax paper on the surface.
To prevent the wax paper from slipping while you are working with the dough, dampen your work surface first.
Use plenty of flour to prevent your dough from sticking to the wax paper.
Roll out the dough as thinly as possible.
In the old days, people used to say that you should roll the paper out thin enough to be able to read through it.
The granite pattern could be seen through the thin sheet. That’s pretty close.
Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into thin strips.
My strips are usually about 2 inches wide by 1 inch long. You don’t need to make them perfect.
Bring the broth to a rolling boil, then add your noodles.
Drop the noodles in the area where the broth boils the most.
The noodles will not stick together.
While adding the noodles, you can gently stir them around.
Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.
This can be done with a pair of kitchen shears or by shredding the chicken manually.
You can prepare your pie crusts while the dumplings cook.
You can use any pie crust recipe you like.
This recipe calls for two crusts.
Use a single crust to line the bottom and sides of your baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes.
Layer the second pie crust over your dish and fill it with plenty of sauce, cooked noodles, and cooked chicken.
Make sure you pierce your pie crust several times with a fork to release the steam.
It will take about 20 minutes for the chicken pie to reach a golden color.
The recipe yields enough to make two chicken pies, but you can also use it as a base for a large batch of chicken and dumplings.
This delicious chicken pie can be served with cornbread and a salad as a complete meal.
Ingredients
- One large fryer can hold 3-4 large chicken breasts
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/3 cup Crisco shortening
- About 1 cup of chicken broth
- Two refrigerated pie shells
Instructions
- Remove the bones from the chicken and boil it in salted water. Be sure to have enough broth.
- Add flour, Crisco, and salt to the food processor, then add broth slowly until a dough ball forms. Use approximately 1 cup broth.
- Roll it out thinly on a floured surface. (So thin that you could read through the paper). Cut into strips about 1″ x 2″. (I use a pizza cutter.)
- Add to boiling broth, then chicken. Cook sauce on low heat for 12-15 minutes until it thickens.
- Roll out one pie crust and place it in the bottom of an oiled round baking dish. Fill with chicken, dumplings, and sauce. Fill with chicken, dumplings, and gravy.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.