Sunday Chicken and Dumplings Soup

On Sundays in the fall when I was a kid the family frequently took drives out in the country looking for fall colors. And just as often we’d have lunch in a little restaurant in the foothills of the Ozarks that had real country cooking. A prominent item on the menu there was chicken and dumplings. We’d get home after sunset and typically we’d have soup as our evening meal.

Last Sunday I noticed the barest beginnings of autumn colors slipping into the leaves of the still mostly green trees. And I got a real taste for chicken and dumplings but I didn’t want to take the time to make real chicken and dumplings so I came up with this quick substitute. It combines both the chicken and dumplings and soup memories from my childhood. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Chicken and Dumplings Soup

Two large servings

8 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast (two split breasts)
½ medium onion, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and cut into &frac12 inch dice
1 celery stalk cut into &frac12 inch dice
1 medium boiling potato, peeled cut into ½ inch dice
4 cups chicken stock
Pepper
Pinch dried thyme leaves
Pinch dried sage
1 Tbsp. cooking oil

&frac12 recipe Basic Biscuits using plain white flour as your flour, butter as your fat, and milk as your liquid

1. Saute the onions and celery in the cooking oil in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat until the onions are transparent.
2. Add the carrot, thyme, and sage and saute for about 1 minute.
3. Add the stock and bring to the boil.
4. Poach the chicken breast with the stock and vegetables following the directions in How to poach a chicken breast.
5. Remove the chicken breast from the stock, cut into 1 inch chunks and return it to the pot.
6. Add the potato to the pot.
7. Using a teaspoon spoon the biscuit dough into pot ½ teaspoon at a time.
8. Season with pepper, simmer covered for 12 minutes, and serve.