Food

Each summer, I spend an inordinate amount of time dressed up as a medieval kitchen drudge, cooking feast foods over an open fire in a cow field. Beside me, knights and dames fight with sword, pole arm, axe, and shield to display their prowess to huge crowds. I’m not much noticed during the fights, but before and after I always have a bevy of fair patrons coming by to ask questions and see what I’m up to. They’re always amazed to see the foods I produce, from pies to salads to stews and soups.

Last summer, it was beastly hot, and I didn’t want to do much cooking at one particular event. The heat was too oppressive to think of spending hours kneeling by the flames, tending to whatever morsel I felt like making. Instead, I retreated to the shade of the kitchen tent, and put together a cold meal for our fair knights and gentle ladies. This dish is deceptively simple, but incredibly tasty and pretty to boot.

Based on A Sallet for Fish Daies, aka a cold shrimp salad:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb carrots, minced or shredded
• 2 cups small shrimp, cleaned, cooked, & cooled
• 1/2 cup finely minced red onion or green onion
• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup olive oil
• salt to taste

Mince your carrots with a knife or food processor, or do what I did and cheat: purchase the finely shredded carrots in a bag. In a bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, and salt, and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Drizzle the carrots with just enough of the dressing to lightly coat them, and then use a mold to shape the carrots. This could be a circle biscuit cutter, a fancy and large cookie cutter, or whatever you have on hand.

If you want a heavier onion flavor, use the red onion. Otherwise, use the green onion (whites and greens together). Mix together the onion and shrimp, then toss with just enough of the dressing to lightly coat them, and arrange them gently on top of the carrots. Serve chilled.

Notes:

Traditionally, this was made in the shape of a fleur de lys using a gelatin or pudding mold, but I skipped that entirely and just tossed everything together. The first time I made it, I used red onion, and the second time I used green onion. I liked both, but my taste testers (the various knights and dames) preferred the green onion one. I found it definitely looked more “fancy”, for what it’s worth. I also sprinkled some minced parsley over the top of the sallet, and garnished it with a carrot coin carved to look like a Tudor rose and a few sprigs of parsley. It was well received, and I could have made a lot more of it and it would have disappeared.

As we were outdoors (in the aforementioned cow field) with no modern cooling equipment, I made the salad in a metal bowl, and set that into a wooden bowl filled with ice. This kept it lovely and chill for most of the day. It was cool, refreshing, tasty, and the perfect foil for the sliced sausage, cheese, and bread that I served it with.

I have been a fan of shawarma since I tried it back after the first Avengers movie. I wanted to see what it was like because I knew the scene of them all eating shawarma at the end of the movie was actually them eating, and it sparked my interest. I totally fell in love. The flavors are amazing, and it’s very easy to make dairy free. This is a fairly quick dinner if you set the meat to marinate the evening before. It comes together fast, and hits the table with a minimum of mess and fuss.

Ingredients:

• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp plus 1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt, divided
• 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• kosher salt
• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced into 1/2″ strips
• 2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp plus 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
• 1 cup cucumber, finely chopped
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved
• 1 medium red onion, sliced into 1/4″ to 1/2″ wedges
• toasted pita, for serving

In a large bowl, mix together the lemon zest, tomato paste, coriander, cumin, paprika, black pepper, turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon, 2 tbsp yogurt, 2 tbsp oil, and 2 tsp salt. Alternatively, you can use a pre-made shawarma mix, which is what I did, though I still added the tomato paste in. I get mine from Auntie Arwen. Add chicken and toss to coat. Let marinate 30 minutes or overnight.

When you’re ready to make your meal, use a small bowl to whisk garlic, tahini, lemon juice, 2 tbsp oil, and the remaining ½ cup yogurt together. Stir in 2 tbsp parsley. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes or until you’re ready to use it.

In a medium bowl, toss together the cucumbers, tomatoes, a heavy pinch of salt, and the remaining parsley. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Arrange a rack in lower third of your oven; preheat to 425°F. In a small bowl, toss onions, ½ tsp salt, and the remaining 1 tbsp oil until onions are coated. Transfer onion mixture to a large baking sheet. Arrange marinated chicken around and over the onion wedges in a single layer. You’re going to need to use your hands, and it’s messy, but it’s worth it. If there’s any marinade left in the bottom of your bowl, drizzle it over the chicken on the pan.

Roast the chicken until cooked through and some lightly charred bits form. If you want to be sure it’s ready, an instant-read thermometer should registers 165°F, and it will take about 25 minutes to cook. During the last ten minutes of cook time, add a pizza pan or baking pan with pitas on it, to toast. You can put them in dry, or you can brush them lightly with olive oil. Take the pitas out before they get too crispy; you want them to be able to fold taco-style around your other ingredients.

To serve this, put out the salad, tahini yogurt sauce, and the meat in separate containers. Give everyone a pita or two, and then layer the ingredients onto the pita. Fold like a taco around your ingredients, and eat. Alternatively, you can halve your pitas and stuff the meat and veg inside the pockets.

I went to the Fort last weekend and I made an amazing pie. Cheshire Pie is one of the recipes shared by Hannah Glasse in her cookbook The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. The original recipe:

As you can see, it’s fairly sparse with its directions, which is a common theme among recipes prior to the early 1900s. One of the things I do is “redact” or recreate recipes from earlier times. I do this using my own skills as a cook, and it pleases me to no end when I find a great combination. This is one of those times, though I  can’t take the credit. I went to the class to learn how to make a good pie crust (and succeeded: that’s my actual pie in the header image), and learned the recipe along the way.

For the pastry, I don’t have an exact recipe. I was taught to measure by feel, because your crust turns out much nicer. As this was my first successful crust, I have to say I agree it works. 😉 Basically, you can either purchase a pie shell (you’ll need a top and bottom), or you can use your own recipe. Or you can try this one, which I’ll describe as best I can.

First, take about 3 cups of good flour. We used a mix of all purpose, white, and bread flour (and no, I didn’t get ratios, so I’ll have to try it on my own), and put it into a large bowl. A pinch of baking powder was added in, and then we added “a bit” of Crisco vegetable shortening (you can also use butter or lard, but I’ve never had success with either and had GREAT success with Crisco, so I’m sticking to it), about a cup or so. Just plop it into the flour. Then, slowly use your fingers to rub the flour and fat together. You don’t want to handle the fat too much or it will melt, so you kind of scoop up a handful of shortening and flour and then rub gently but briskly between your thumb and across all your other fingers. It helps if you keep your elbows tight to your body while doing this. You continue doing this until all the fat is mixed in evenly to the flour. It will start to make little “peas” or look like coarse cornmeal. Add a bit more Crisco and keep doing it until the bits of dough are about pea sized. It took me about 20 minutes to do this by hand. At home, I think I’ll use my pastry cutter to do the early part, and just switch to hand mixing at the very end, which should cut the time down quite a bit. Two knives may also work, but I’d say that handling it at the end is important.

Read More

For whatever reason, every party I ever went to in the 1980s included at least one version of this dip, served in a bread bowl. I’m not sure why we stopped making it, because it’s iconic comfort food, tasty and with a healthy kick to it from the spinach. Therefore, I shall share it with you, dear readers. Because it’s yummy. 

Ingredients:

• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach (cooked, cooled and squeezed dry)
• 16 oz sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 package Knorr ® Vegetable recipe mix
• 8 oz water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional)
• 3 green onions, chopped (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Chill the spinach dip for about 2 hours.

In a good size round of bread with a chewy crust (in other words, one that won’t fall apart being used as a bowl), cut a circle out of the top. Using a knife or your fingers, pull out bits of bread to make the round into a bowl. Add the chilled spinach dip to your bread bowl.

Serve this classic spinach dip with the bread that you pulled out of your bread bowl, and a stack of fresh vegetables as well. Make a double batch, because you will need to refill the bowl before the night is over.

Notes:

You can make this vegetarian or vegan! Replace the sour cream with 16 oz of cashew yogurt. Replace the mayo with Nayonaise or another vegan mayo. That’s all you need to do! Another alternative is to use a cashew cream cheese in place of the mayo, for a thicker dip. Be prepared to thin it out with a bit of oat milk if it’s too thick.

I discovered this recipe by watching an older Turkish couple in Azerbaijan on YouTube. They don’t share amounts, but the woman cooks on screen, and I made educated guesses about how much of everything to put in. She uses this recipe both to make these flat breads, and as a crust for meat pies. I’ve done both. This is my take on her recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup water, luke warm
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• egg wash
• sesame seeds

Garnish:

• 1/4 cup olive oil extra virgin
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1/3 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped

Whisk sugar, yeast and water in a medium-large size mixing bowl. Let it sit for 15 till the mixture froths and bubbles.

Add flour, butter, yogurt, and salt. Knead together using a wooden spoon or the bread hook of a stand mixer. When the dough starts to come together, drizzle in the olive oil, and continue kneading until the dough is combined with the oil and has come away from the sides. This will be a shaggy dough, rather than a soft and smooth one.

Pick up the dough and gently form into a ball shape. Rub some olive oil on the inside walls of the mixing bowl. Gently place the dough back into the the mixing bowl (do not knead anymore) and cover it with plastic wrap and towel or a lid. Place the the bowl in a warm place to rest for an hour or until it doubles in size.

Flour your working surface, and place the dough onto it. Divide it into several evenly sized pieces (two pieces for pie “crust” or four to six pieces for flatbreads), and make them into balls. Be very gentle, as you want all the little air pockets to stay inside the dough. Sprinkle each ball with dry flour lightly, and then cover them with plastic wrap or a moist, warm towel to keep the dough moist. Let them rest for 10 minutes before moving on to the next step.

For pie crust, take each ball and gently pat it down with your hands to flatten it. If you need, you can use a rolling pin to even it out into a circle. Add your filling in the center, and then lift up the sides and begin to pinch the edge together to make a side for your “pie.” This will be open topped, with a pretty crimp along the edge, sort of like the top of a fancy Asian dumpling. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look good. It will taste divine. Skip to the baking part below.

For flatbreads, pat each ball down with your hands to flatten it. You can use a rolling pin to make it even and either circular or oval, your choice. Leave the rest of the dough under the plastic towel while you work on each flatbread, so that the dough doesn’t dry out.

Preheat a cast iron pan or griddle on your stovetop, at medium heat. Place the flattened dough onto the heated pan for about 10 seconds, then flip it over. Cook the other side for about 20 seconds, then flip back to the original side for another 5 seconds. Flip one last time for 5 more seconds, and then set it aside.

Repeat the above pan frying for each of your dough balls. Let the bread cool for about 10 minutes, and then check to see if it’s properly cooked inside. If it isn’t, you can put it back onto the stove for a few more seconds.

Mix together the garnish ingredients above, and brush them over the still-warm flatbreads, and serve as soon as you can.

If you’re baking pies, preheat your oven to 375°F. While it’s preheating, glaze your pie dough with an egg wash (whisk an egg with a little water or olive oil and brush it gently over the exposed dough) or melted butter or warmed olive oil. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if you like. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, checking frequently after the 25 minute mark.

Notes:
When I use this as a pie crust, I use a finely minced meat, and all the other ingredients are also finely minced. This ensures the filling will cook properly by the time the crust is baked.

You don’t have to make big pie crusts. Most people like to have a pie to split, but if you want to make individual ones, flatten them out to a little larger than hand size, and then follow the recipe. This is a great recipe to play with!

Everyone in my house loves stir fry. I do all kinds of stir fry dishes, too. I make a great coconut Thai curry, and my ginger soy poke bowls aren’t bad either. Recently, I was in a mood for noodles instead of rice, though, and I went looking and found a recipe for using ramen noodles in a stir fry. This is my take on that!

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp regular soy sauce
• 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp sriracha or sweet chili sauce
• 1/4 tsp white ground pepper
• 3 packages instant ramen noodles (discard flavor packets)
• 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided (see recipe)
• 1 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1 cup sliced white button mushrooms
• 1/2 cup diced sweet yellow onion
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 tbsp fresh minced garlic
• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
• 2 thinly sliced green onion
• 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Sometimes known as American Chop Suey (no idea why), this dish has been served in American homes since the mid 1800s. It’s usually a macaroni based ground beef dish. This week, I made Orecchiette pasta with Chris last night, and we enjoyed it in my American Goulash. This is my own recipe, and I recommend it highly!

Ingredients:

• 16 oz elbow macaroni or fresh pasta
• olive oil as needed for cooking
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium carrot, finely diced
• 1 stalk celery, finely diced
• dash of red wine
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 28 oz (2 cans) diced tomatoes, any flavor
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup tomato juice or V8
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce (optional)

Fill a large pot with water, add a dash of salt, and bring it to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions. If you’re using fresh, cook your pasta until it’s al dente, which can take anywhere from 3 to 7 minutes, depending on the thickness and overall size of your pasta. Drain the pasta, and set it aside.

In a heavy pot, add a bit of oil to the bottom and brown the ground beef. When the meat is thoroughly cooked and no pink remains, add the onions, carrots, and celery, and continue to cook until the onions soften and become translucent. Stir often, to make certain the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. If necessary, add a bit of olive oil or butter to the pot. Add in the garlic and cook for one more minute.

Drizzle in some of the red wine and deglaze the bottom of the pot. Make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom, and add more wine as necessary, but not enough to make it very wet. Sprinkle a tablespoon or two of flour over the ground beef mixture, and stir gently to incorporate it. The result should be a slightly sticky, somewhat gummy mass in the bottom of your pot.

Add in the tomatoes, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and spices, and cook until it begins to thicken. Add in as much tomato juice or V8 as necessary to make the consistency similar to a thin gravy. Simmer for 2 minutes or so, until all the food is evenly heated. Pour in the cooked pasta, mix it in well, and add salt and pepper to taste. Let this simmer on a very low heat (or in your oven at 250°F) for about 15 to 20 minutes, checking often to be sure it isn’t sticking. If it’s too thick or dry, you can add a bit more tomato juice.

Serve this up with a bit of crusty bread or a side salad for a delicious and hearty meal.

I’m at the Fort this weekend (if you’re in the area, come on over and visit!), presenting life in the early spring in a cold environment. I’ll be staying all weekend, with no running water (it’s turned off until all danger of frost is gone) and little electricity (the gift shop has some). I decided that the food I was going to make should reflect the environment I’ll be in, and so these meals are ones that conceivably could have been served at the Fort in the spring of 1750.

Soup Meagre

I’ve adapted this from Hannah Glasse’s recipe of 1765. I find it amusing how closely it resembles the Green Soup that I made a couple of weekends ago for a Viking reenactment I did. There’s never much food in the spring, and what you can get your hands on has to “make do” until you can plant and harvest crops. It’s a tough time of year! This is a very plain soup, but with the seasonings, would probably have been quite the treat. Early greens in New England would include ramps, asparagus, watercress, fiddleheads, dandelion greens, and things we consider weeds like stinging nettle, onion grass, and dock.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, cut into 1- to 2-inch lengths (“half as long as your finger”)
• 6-8 oz mixed greens, (spinach, lettuce, arugula, etc), chopped if large
• 3 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp flour
• 2 to 4 cups broth
• 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/4 tsp ground mace and/or nutmeg

Melt the butter in a large kettle or Dutch oven over medium heat. When the bubbling has subsided, add the onions and cook for about five minutes, until transparent.

Add the celery, greens, and parsley, stir, and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the greens and stir to blend. Add the broth, salt, pepper, and mace, and stir well. Simmer the soup over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.

Taste and add more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve warm, with bread if you have it.

Notes from Mistress Allyson: If you want to add a bit of protein to this meal (something that would have been in high demand in the 1750s in spring), try some beans or a bit of salt pork. Beans get added right before simmering. Salt pork should go in with the butter at the beginning.

Read More

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending, vending at, and cooking at the Northfolk Nightmarket in Phillipston, MA. This was its first year, and wow, it was amazing. I did pretty well, and I had a blast. Since this event is Viking themed (though “fantasy” Viking more than historical, they delved into the mythology of Beowulf in a day-long roving play), I decided to both dress as and cook as a Viking woman would. That meant coming up with meals that could have been served in Grylla’s mead hall. I decided to make a pork roast with apples, and a green soup. The soup was delicious, but the pork… It was divine. The following was food for about four or five people (but we were hungry from being out in the cold all day).

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb pork loin, plain
• 4 apples, rough chopped
• 2 red onions, rough chopped
• 24 oz beer or ale (light, NOT dark)
• salt, pepper, oregano, marjoram, about 1/4 tsp each
• 1 tbsp dried rosemary

Get your fire quite hot and make a good bed of coals to cook in (alternatively, set your oven to 350° F). Over a quick flame (stove burner set to medium high), heat up some olive oil and toss in the apples and onions. Saute them until they begin to soften, but before they start to crumble. Place the pork loin over the vegetables, and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, oregano, and marjoram. Add in the beer, a little at a time so it doesn’t bubble over, until the pork is almost covered (you may need to add more beer later if you don’t cover your pot). Sprinkle the rosemary liberally over the top of the roast, and pop it over the coals for 2 hours.

Check on your pork every 30 minutes or so (or every time a patron asks you what you’re cooking and why does it smell so damn good?), turning it so that every side spends time under the liquid. If the liquid boils out, add more beer or some broth. Continue to cook until the roast is ready to fall apart when poked with a fork. If you’re cooking it in the oven, cook for 2 hours at 350°, then an hour hour or so at 250° while lidded, for the best result.

Remove the pork from the liquid and slice into coins. Using a slotted spoon, pull out the apples and onions and serve them alongside the pork, with a side of rice.

Notes:

I used old apples I’d found forgotten in our crisper drawer. They looked like apples that had been sitting around since autumn, which worked well for my event. Because of that, they were a little older, a little softer, and a little sweeter than a fresh apple. I highly recommend this, because the result was incredible. This came out moist, and absolutely bursting with the flavor of the beer and rosemary. It has a little bit of a sweet immediate taste, with a lovely savory flavor that hits you after.

If you can, I really do recommend cooking this one in cast iron over a fire. It was really easy, and it was very showy for when people came walking by. But the smell of it, and the slight background taste of smoke and ash, just really came together.

I will also say, we didn’t eat it with rice when we were at the market. We ate it with our fingers, dribbling juices into the snow and ice at our feet, and giving no f*’s. LOL… It was just so good!

Chicken and dumplings are a staple in my house. They’re something in between a soup and a stew, and I usually get silly and call it Stoup. They’re incredibly easy to make, though it takes a bit of effort until you’ve learned the method. It’s filling, delicious, and you’ll get requests.

Ingredients for the stoup:

• 6 to 8 oz of uncooked chicken per person
• enough water to cover the chicken
• salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, and rubbed sage to taste
• 1 medium carrot, diced small
• 1 small onion, diced small
• 1 large rib of celery, diced small
• a teaspoon or so of butter, margarine, or olive oil
• white wine to deglaze the pan

Ingredients for the dumplings:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg

The chicken for this recipe can be done in two different ways. First, you can use bone-in chicken pieces and make it like “pulled chicken,” meaning you cook it, then remove it from the water and shred it up until it’s the size of bits you like. Second, you can use boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, in which case you’re going to cube your chicken into bite size pieces. Regardless of which method you choose to use, you should sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, then brown it in a cast iron pan (separate from the one you’ll be making the broth in). Make sure to brown all sides, but remember it doesn’t need to be cooked through. The full cooking happens in the water.

While you’re browning your chicken in batches, add enough water to a pot that it will cover your chicken when it’s added. It’s okay if you don’t get quite enough in the pot; you can add more after. You just want to get enough in there that you can start heating it up to a boil. As you finish browning chicken parts, put them into the water. Make sure there’s enough water to cover all the chicken completely, but not much more, and then lower it from a boil to a simmer. Add in your spices, about a teaspoon of each for now. You can add more later if needed.

As your chicken is simmering, dice up your carrot, onion, and celery. Add a bit of fat to the pan you cooked the chicken in, and saute your vegetables until the onions are soft and beginning to clarify. Add a tablespoon or so of a dry white wine to the pan, and stir and scrape well with a wooden spoon. All of the stuff you scrape off the bottom of the pan is “fond” and it’s what makes your stoup delicious. Add the veggies and fond to your chicken and broth.

Make your dumplings. Add the four and salt into a medium bowl. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, whisk together your milk and egg. Add the liquid to the flour, and mix until it forms a dough. This should be a soft and relatively smooth dough, with very elastic qualities. It may be a bit sticky or tacky, but it shouldn’t stick to the counter when you’re kneading.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s smooth and elastic. Keeping the counter lightly floured at each stage, you should then roll out your dough so it’s as thick as you like your dumplings to be. If you like your dumplings to be fat and fluffy, you’ll want to roll them out to about a half inch thick. If you want them more like noodles (my preference), roll them to under a quarter inch, basically as smooth and thin as you can manage without the dough sticking to the counter. Cut your dumplings into strips, squares, diamonds, or really any shape you like. you can use a dough cutter, or a knife, or even a rolling pizza cutter. Use a bread scraper to lift the noodles off the counter, dust them well with more flour, and let them rest and dry a bit while the rest of the food is readied.

When your chicken is thoroughly cooked (about an hour, or longer if you like), pull any boned parts out of the broth. Shred, if you like, and return the chicken to the broth. Bring the broth to a low but steady boil, and begin adding the dumplings to it a little at a time. I usually add about a handful of dumplings, then stir and let them begin to cook. This keeps them from sticking to one another. The flour on the outside of the dumplings will help thicken the gravy in your stoup, too. Cook the dumplings until they’re tender. This can take anywhere from five minutes to 20 minutes, depending on how thick they were rolled and how dry they were when you started. They should be solid throughout, with no doughy interior. Thin ones will taste like fresh noodles (which is essentially what they are).

If you find that your gravy isn’t thick enough, add a little water or cold broth to a tablespoon of cornstarch, stir until well combined, and then add a bit at a time to the simmering stoup. Repeat until you reach the consistency you prefer. Add in any spices you like, and if you want a fancier look, top each bowl with a sprinkle of fresh minced parsley.

Serve your chicken and dumplings over a pile of mashed potatoes, rice, or on their own in a bowl with a spoon.