Chicken Dumpling Soup

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

6 cups good quality chicken broth 

6 large carrots, peeled and cut into ½ inch rounds

2 onions, peeled and cut into eighths

4 large celery stalks, cut into ½ inch pieces

1 medium leek, halved lengthwise and sliced into ½ inch slices (white and pale green section only)

½ cup fresh chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

5 large eggs

½ cup milk

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 teaspoon coarse salt, plus extra for salting dumpling water

¼ teaspoon pepper

1½ cups flour

1½ cups cooked shredded chicken

Instructions

Melt butter in large saucepan and add flour, whisking until smooth. Whisk chicken broth into flour mixture and continue whisking over medium-high heat until smooth and at a low boil, about 5 minutes.

Add carrots, celery, leek, ½ cup parsley and thyme to broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

While broth is simmering, make dumplings. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Mix eggs, milk, butter, parsley, salt and pepper together until well-blended. Stir in flour (batter will be soft). Drop teaspoonfuls of the dumpling batter in the broth and simmer until tender, about 8 minutes.

Add cooked chicken to broth, simmer until heated through, add salt and pepper as needed and serve.