Chicken and Dumplings Soup

I love chicken soup and you can have it with noodles or rice or dumplings. These dumplings are made with leftover bread and are a nice change from rice or noodles. I have made them with marble rye bread and also from a basic white. Use what you like.

You will need:

• a cooked chicken - you can buy a roasted chicken from the grocery store or cook one
• 2 boxes of broth or make your own from bones (see link)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 carrots- peeled sliced on diagonal
• 1 stalk celery-sliced
• 1 potato- cubed (peeled or not)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 onion- chopped fine
• 1 leek- sliced thin
• 2 spring onions- sliced thin
• 1 tbsp dry Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp dry poultry seasoning
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme- chopped fine
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley - chopped fine

Dumplings

• 2 slices of bread - crust removed and cubed
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp fresh thyme - chopped fine
• 1 tsp fresh parsley - chopped fine

Step 1: chop carrots, celery, garlic, onions, leek, spring onions and fresh herbs.

Step 2:  Chop potato and place in a bowl of water to prevent browning and to remove some of the starch.

Step 3: chop chicken. set aside.

Step 4: place leeks, onions, carrots, celery, garlic and 1/2 of the fresh herbs into a small saute pan with  olive oil. Add Italian and poultry seasonings along with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Saute for a few minutes until just starting to turn brown. Reserve the spring onions and half of the herbs for the last minute before serving.

Step 5: add broth and chicken along with vegetables including potatoes into a large pot. Bring up to a boil and then immediately turn down to simmer for approx 20 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.

Step 6: prepare the dumplings. In a small bowl add eggs and chopped bread. let sit for 5 minutes. Add  1/2 cup flour, fresh thyme, parsley and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix with a fork. If still too wet add the rest of the flour to make it dry enough to form a loose ball. 

You can form balls and place on a plate or simply take a fork and cut off blobs right into the hot soup to cook.

These are ones I made with a different type of bread.

Cook in simmering soup for 5 minutes.

Top with remaining herbs and spring onions and taste for seasoning. Adjust salt and pepper if necessary and serve hot!