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For chicken and broth:
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Rinse chicken breasts, lay on a plate and season both tops and bottoms with Tonys Seasoning.
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In a stock pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat.
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Place chicken in pot and brown.
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(Turn your vent on, or else the spices will set everyone coughing!)
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Once well browned, remove breasts from pot and set aside.
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Add diced onion, celery, garlic and optional bell pepper to pot and saute till onions are soft and translucent.
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Add water to fill your pot halfway, then put chicken breasts back into the pot.
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Bring to a boil, lower heat to simmer.
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Add 3 cups of cut up green onion tops and cover.
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(Go make your dumpling dough now!)
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Cook until chicken is VERY tender and you can break each breast apart with a fork.
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Break it up well.
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Add more water if needed and enough Kitchen Bouquet to darken the broth nicely.
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Season to taste with Tonys or kosher salt/fresh ground pepper.
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Cover and lower heat to barely a simmer.
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While the chicken and broth are simmering, make the dumplings.
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Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.
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Cut in the butter/Crisco until coarse crumbs form.
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Add remaining cup of cut up green union tops and mix in until well distributed.
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Add cold water all at once, stirring until dough is formed into a ball.
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(If the chicken and broth are not at the final simmer at this point, put dough in a bowl, cover with foil or plastic wrap, and stick in the refrigerator until ready to use.)
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When ready to form the dumplings, put ball of dough on a floured surface and pat down or flatten it a bit.
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Sprinkle a bit of flour on top and, using a rolling pin, begin rolling it out as thin as you can get it.
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Continue sprinkling flour on top of pastry to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin.
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This extra flour will help thicken your broth up nicely.
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When pastry is nice and thin, take a dinner or butter knife and cut it into medium-sized rectangles/squares.
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Remove stock pot lid and adjust the heat (or down as the case may be) so that steam is rising from the broth but it isnt boiling.
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Start slowly dropping your dumplings in, scattering them well.
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Dumplings will initially sink and then float when they are done.
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From this point on, DO NOT STIR.
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Use a fork to lightly shake through the contents of the pot and continue to add dumplings.
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When all dumplings have been dropped in, turn the heat to low, and cover again if not serving immediately.
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Serve with candied sweet potatoes (recipe to follow soon) and pistolettes.
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Green beans with almonds is a nice addition as well to round out this country meal.
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*Note: If you dont want to make your own dumplings, you can find flat dumpling strips in your grocers freezer, usually where the frozen breads, rolls, and biscuits are.
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The brand I prefer and have used in a pinch is Mary Bs and this recipe usually calls for at least two of the regular packs or one of the bulk/family size packs.
