"Re-starting" making soup

[pacanis]

Last night I wanted to use uo a chicken I had purchased. I was half following a pressure cooker recipe that came with my PC for a chicken dish, and mostly following the spices and ingredients of a soup (stew?) recipe Kitchenelf had given me. The reason I did not follow KE's recipe exclusively is because it called for dumplings and I did not have a rolling pin yet I hope to get that rolling pin today.

So last night I just plated some of the chicken, which fell off the bone, and some of the veggies that were in with it. OMG, absolutely loaded with flavor! Not pretty at all, even though I browned the chicken first, but the meat was incredible. Better than any roasted chicken I ever had.

After dinner I took out a pot with a colander inner pot (I guess it's called) and dumped everything through it. So now sitting in my fridge is a pot with stock in the bottom of it and the colander with everything else. I intend to pull apart the chicken meat and make a soup and my rolling pin just arrived as I'm typing this , so I can make KE's slippery dumplings, which is my whole intent.

So my question is; Since everything is cooled off and needs to be brought to a boil again for the dumplings, should I remove the veggies and add new ones? Will the veggies that were already cooked deteriorate? Maybe leave them in and still add new ones?

[kitchenelf]

You can certainly start out with new veggies but if you like the taste of the ones already in there why bother? I know they get really soft but that's what I like for my chicken and dumplings. They have to be pretty mush by now - I know!

With that being said if you want to start out with fresh just cook them first in the broth in your pressure cooker. Once done to perfection make your dumplings. When dumplings are nearing doneness )add back your chicken to re-heat. You might want to take the chill off your chicken by nuking for just a few minutes. Not to the point of cooking them - just bringing them to room temp so they don't cool off your cooking dumplings.

[pacanis]

Cool. Thanks a heap!
I think I will add a few more just to have more veggies and I will pres. cook them as I am stripping the bird.
So how much liquid do you think I should have altogether? Is this a soup or a stew?

[suziquzie]

I'm not a fan of mushy veggies, I'd replace them all. But that's just personal preference... not a law.
Ok it's a law in my house.

[ella/TO]

I have never made dumplings using a rolling pin....I always drop them off a spoon into the boiling liquid. What have I been missing?....LOL

[kitchenelf]

Well, it's chicken and dumplings - it's more of a stew. The flour on the dumplings will help thicken the broth. A lot of people don't even keep the veggies in their chicken and dumplings but I do - why not? In soups I like my veggies toothy - I've never had toothy veggies in chicken and dumplings - always on the softer side but not mushy.

As far as liquid - well - most people serve chicken and dumplings in a bowl because of the liquid. You don't want as much liquid as you would have in a soup, but, like I said, the liquid will thicken. You just have to make sure there's enough liquid to cook the dumplings with some left over.

- that's a hard question to answer!

[kitchenelf]

Originally Posted by ella/TO

I have never made dumplings using a rolling pin....I always drop them off a spoon into the boiling liquid. What have I been missing?....LOL

These are called slippery dumplings - more "noodle-ish".

[pacanis]

Well ok..... I'm just going to keep the original ingredients without adding anything except the dumplings. Then I won't have to wash my pressure cooker liner again.

[kitchenelf]

You'll know for the next time anyway.

[Constance]

Around here, we call'em rolled dumplings. Just a southern Illinois thing, I guess. I love them!