What happens when your beautiful rooster decides his favorite thing to do is to leap on you from behind? Chicken and dumplings happen! I am excited to share this post about my first experience with the WonderMill – which is soon to become one of my favorite homesteading tools!
My homestead farm is at the foothills of the Oregon coastal range – just beside a top grain/grass producing valley. It only makes sense that i start grinding my own flour to get the best flavor, nutrition and freshness out of those locally grown grains. My first time using the WonderMill was to grind some stone ground flour to a more fine texture, as i didn’t have any whole grains on hand. The mill did just fine accommodating my odd request and the flour came out so light and fluffy! The mill was easy to use, even for someone who barely read the user manual. As for the first recipe i tried, it was inspired by necessity: an aggressive rooster has no place on my farm and our rooster was feeling a little too inspired by spring as of late. Into the pot he went! Free range rooster can be quite tough so i cooked him all day in a cast iron pot. Rooster tastes just like turkey, so this dish was nearly turkey pot pie – delicious!
Rooster and Dumplings
- 1 whole chicken, de-boned (include the liver), chopped coursely
- 1 whole leek, cleaned of mud and chopped
- 2-5 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 turnip, peeled and chopped
- 1-3 carrots, diced
- 2 cups stock/water (more or less as needed to cover meat/vegetables)
- pinch of time
- generous pinches salt and pepper
- pinch flour
Drop some butter in your cast iron dutch oven and turn to medium heat. (This could also be done in a crock pot) Add chicken, herbs, leeks and flour. Allow chicken to brown a bit, stir a few times then add stock to just cover meat. Bring to a boil then cover and turn down to a simmer. Cook on low for 4 hours. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook an additional 2-3 hours. (I started mine around noon and we ate at 7:30)
About 30 minutes before dinner time prepare your favorite dumpling recipe. I used the cornmeal dumplings from the Joy of Cooking and added a pinch of rosemary and dried garlic. Be sure your stew is no higher than a simmer, carefully drop the batter evenly along the top of the stew and cover for at least 20 minutes. BE ADVISED the dumplings will absorb some of your liquid, so be sure the stew is wetter than you want the finished product to be.
Delicious! Have you ever had chicken and dumplings, shepherd’s pie, or pot pie made from scratch?
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