Tuesday, March 2, 2010

A Marriage of Flavors

It's snowing in Atlanta today.  Guess what that means?  That's right!  Chicken n' dumplings!  (I also would have accepted "chili" as an answer, except that I made that last week during a different cold front).

I like to make my chicken and dumplings with rotisserie chicken because I'm lazy efficient.  I stopped by Publix to grab one from the deli only to find that they were out of the original recipe!  I shoved through lemon pepper after lemon pepper to try to find the lone chicken lurking towards the back of the counter.  Lo and behold:
I was instantly inspired.  What if I made Cuban Chicken and Dumplings?!  Pollo con bola de masa hervida, if you will.  Well, it didn't taste too Latino, but it was definitely the best version of chicken and dumplings I've ever made.  Here's the recipe:

Pollo con bola de masa hervida
Source: adapted from Southern Living 

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cumin, divided
3 tablespoons shortening
5 tablespoons cold water
1 large egg, beaten
3-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon pepper
juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 mojo rotisserie chicken, pulled from the bone and shredded.  Keep the skin.

Directions:

Combine flour, salt, and 1 teaspoon of cumin with a whisk or a fork.  Add the shortening, water, and egg.  Use your hands to combine, unless you have a cool pasty tool that I don't have yet but registered for :)

Meanwhile, combine broth, pepper, remaining cumin, lime, and garlic in a large stock pot.  Heat to a boil over medium-high heat.

Back to the dough, roll out until it's about 1/8" thick.  Cut 2 x 3/4" strips with a butter knife.  Place a few pieces at a time into the boiling broth.  Cook uncovered for 7 minutes, or until the dough is tender but chewy.

Add the meat (including the skin) and cook for 4 minutes.  When the meat is warm, remove skin from the stock pot and ladel into bowls.  Serve immediately with an avocado and lime themed salad.

Yield: 4

I suppose you could use chicken marinated in mojo, or use mojo sauce on unseasoned chicken.  Play with it and let me know how it turns out!

7 comments:

  1. I had my first chicken and dumplings last week at Folk's restaurant. I got it as a dish where you can choose 4 "vegetables" as your main meal (who knew chicken was a vegetable?) I really liked it, yours looks great too! I would think the mojo flavoring of the chicken would be stronger though in the final product. Great work!

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  2. Thanks Bridget! It wasn't as strongly mojo-flavored as I had hoped, but it definitely had a little flair to it! I'll let you know if I decide to do any follow-up experiments :)

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  3. Ummmm love you. So much.

    Love,
    EJB

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  4. Wow that sounds amazing! Now I'm hungry for lunch.

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  5. OMG! Mi nuevo blog favorito! I can't believe all the good food you've put up.

    I found this blog on the boards at wedding bee, by the way.

    I'm afraid I'm a guy and i'm not a great cook, although I'm learning. I told my girlfriend when she gets over here to the U.S. i'm gonna be cooking for her a lot more :-p so looking forward to your recipies!

    Btw, in case you're interested, check out a blog i'm promoting for my friend: http://blog.weddingism.com

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  6. it should be "bola" not "bolla" - that second version could be very easily confused for a vulgar term for a female body part. ask around. hehe

    love the blog.
    L&L,
    Christine

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