The "rainy" season here in Southern California is unpredictable at best lately. When it does rain however, it pours! Just like the song says. It's true! Man, it pours.
I immediately think "Chicken and Dumplings".The smell of shallots and white wine, sweet vermouth, celery and carrots all bubbling together, mixed with a rainy day reminds me of Gramma Deller's kitchen about a million years ago, in Simcoe.
Never mattered how cold and miserable it was outside, her bright, warm, delicious kitchen was the best place to be; hands down.
She made the dumplings in the traditional way... square little pillows of dough, bobbing up and down in the rolling boil of memories on her Garland range.
Here are a couple of different rainy day recipes for you to try, with love from Mary-Jane Deller:
Great Gramma's Chicken n'Dumplings:
Chicken and Dumplings, like most southern food, evolved
out of necessity and practicality. Back in the day, chicken was a treat and not
something offered or even available on a regular basis.
Ingredients
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3 medium carrots, chopped
2 shallots, diced
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 cup of white wine
1/2 cup sweet vermouth
2 tbsp fresh, flat leaf parsley
Box of Bisquick (yep, that’s right…)
Milk
Flour
1/2 cup Milk
2 or 3 tsp. of salted butter
Directions
In a large soup pot on medium heat, melt butter and add the carrots, celery and shallots. Sauté until the shallots are slightly caramelized (about 4 minutes). Pour in the wine and vermouth; cook an additional 2 minutes the add chicken breasts and
cover with water (fill the pot about half full). Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook over medium heat until chicken is done (check after 15 minutes).
Remove chicken and cut into
bite sized pieces. Place chicken pieces back in broth. Simmer chicken and broth
on low while making dumplings. Using the Bisquick and milk, prepare as much
dumpling mix as you want (as many as your pot will hold) according to package
instructions. Coat your hands with flour, sprinkle a little flour on top of the
dumpling mix, and roll dumplings into 1 inch balls. Add a little more flour
when dumpling mix begins to get too sticky to roll. When you're almost finished
rolling the dumplings, turn up the heat under the chicken and broth and bring
to a slow boil. Drop dumplings into boiling broth. Make sure they submerge.
They'll pop back up, but you need to make sure they get totally wet.
Once all
dumplings are in the broth, add 1/2 cup milk and 2 or 3 teaspoons butter and
poke all the dumplings down again. Do not stir before the dumplings are cooked,
because it will tear them up. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, stirring
occasionally but gently (if all dumplings appear to be cooked) to make sure
chicken doesn't stick to bottom of pot. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve it up!
Apple Pie, plain and simple:
Ingredients
7-10 apples,
peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon
cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon
cloves
Crumb Crust
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 stick butter
Place
sliced apples in 9 inch unbaked pie shell. (Pie dough recipe to follow). Mix
and sprinkle remaining ingredients over apples. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon water (or fresh lemon juice if you
have it) over top.
Mix together
sugar and flour. Cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture using a fork,
pastry blender or food processor.
Sprinkle
over top of pie. A few drops of vanilla can be mixed into sugar.
Bake at 400°F
for 40-45 minutes. If the pie begins to brown too rapidly, cover lightly with
foil.
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So, next time it rains, regardless if you are in Southern California or not, whip up some rainy day food, pour a glass of wine and enjoy the gift of the chill-out day. After all, you know it's going to be deeeeeeeeeeeelish!
xo jmo
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