Chicken and Buttermilk-Chive Dumplings

It has been years since I made chicken and dumplings. Over 17 years for sure, maybe even longer. When our kids were younger, our son liked them and our daughter said she got sick every time she smelled them, so that was that. I'm thinking she was probably getting sick one time when I fixed them and she just thought they made her sick. I understand that odor association thing. When I was growing up, I was convinced that the smell of frying liver made me sick. In addition, I was sure that the smell of baking custard made me sick too, so I understood how she felt. 

The other day I was talking with my son and said the words chicken and dumplings in error regarding something else, but he picked up on that and said how good chicken and dumplings sounded. Well, that settled it for me. Deciding what to make is usually the hardest part for me. With the slightest encouragement, I will make food that people want! It had been so long, I couldn't remember if I followed a certain recipe or how I made them years ago, so I started looking for a recipe.

I decided on a Tyler Florence recipe that I found at foodnetwork.com and adapted it to use what I had on hand. I used 4 large chicken breasts in place of the whole chicken, and I used 4 cups of pre-made chicken broth to simmer the chicken breasts in and added only 2 cups of water. There was plenty of chicken flavor so I would do that again in the future if I didn't have the time to stew a whole chicken and pick the chicken off of the bones. I saved at least 45 minutes or more doing it this way.

If the word dumpling scares you, just think of it as a biscuit, which is what it is. If the word biscuit scares you, I'm sorry! If there is any secret to making biscuits/dumplings, it is only that you want to stir it just till it comes together so that they will be light and fluffy when they cook. I am happy to say that my dumplings turned out lighter than air and they literally melted in the mouth! I was so happy that I was able to fix these for my son, he loved them and even had leftovers the next day.

Somehow I can't seem to remember to take a picture before we eat, so this picture was taken the next day after being re-warmed. The dumplings don't look as fluffy the second day as they did when I served them. I guess you will have to take my word on that one.

This is not a good picture! This doesn't even look like appetizing to me. Dear hubby says I'm judging this picture too harshly. What can I expect 24 hours later!

Enjoy!