Bear's Anecdote - The story goes that Clarie Kelley (Bear's mom) was driving past a chunk of
land that people were using as an impromptu, unofficial landfill. Her eyes played tricks on her
because she read the sign wrong, "No Dumplings." Apparently, she had been very hungry at the time!
This recipe always reminds me of that anecdote.
CHICKEN
3 1/2 lbs. chicken, cooked, diced.
1 10oz. package frozen peas
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken gravy
4 chicken bouillon cubes
Spread chicken over bottom of a 9x13x2 baking dish.
Sprinkle peas over chicken.
In a sauce pan, cut the butter and flour together, then add gravy and bouillon cubes.
Bring the mixture to a boil then pour over the chicken and peas.
Place pan in a 350 degree oven.
DUMPLINGS
(Bear Kelley's lazy recipe uses a can of premade biscuits, but here's the original)
2 cups flour
4 tbsp crisco or other vegetable shortening
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 egg
Milk
With a pastry blender, blend dry ingredients and shortening until the mix resembles coarse cornmeal.
Break an egg into a measuring cup and add milk until it measures 3/4 cup.
Add egg mixture to pastry mix and mix well to form a soft batter.
COMPLETION
When gravy boils, remove pan from oven and drop dumplings on top of the chicken and gravy.
One nicely rounded tablespoon makes for a good dumpling.
Return the pan to the oven and bake at 350 degrees for another 25 minutes.