Comfort me with Tomato Dumplings

Every once in a while, everyone gets a craving for some comfort food. It's usually something your mother or grandmother made when you were young, probably something warm and carb-heavy. Definetly delicious. For me, that thing is dumplings.

When I was growing up, my mom made the best chicken an' dumplings on the planet, hands down. I know I'm prejudiced, but one taste, and you'd agree. She started with homemade chicken stock in which floated the lightest and tastiest dumplings ever. But the chicken, blech!. I never liked the big pieces of chicken that came with it, but I had to finish it before I could get some more of the dumplings on my plate. Of course, after becoming a vegetarian, chicken an' dumplings were completely out of the question. And I missed them.

So several years ago, mom started making tomato dumplings for me. This was never something she made while I was growing up, but was something her mother would make for her when she was a child. The tomato broth was just watered down tomato juice in which those same light, delicious dumpling are cooked. At the end, she would stir in a little cream or milk. Simple and amazing.

While the tomato broth mom uses is good, I decided to fiddle with the overall recipe a little to up the sophistication and flavor just a bit. I developed a recipe for what I call "quick French tomato broth" which is flavored with onion, garlic and thyme. It's very good on it's own, but with a little more water or vegetable stock added, becomes the perfect vehicle for the light, delicious dumplings. The recipe for how to make the dumpling is below, but the key is to use a pot with a heavy lid that seals tightly. Once the dumplings are added to the broth and stirred around just a bit, cover them and DO NOT open the pot or raise the lid. Just let them be. If you decide you do need to peek at them, you'll end up with dumplings that are thick, heavy and unacceptable.

Recipe: Tomato Dumplings
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2.5 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. shortening
2 cups buttermilk

Mix together dry ingredients and then cut in shortening with a couple of knives or a pastry cutter-inner thingy. Add buttermilk and mix with a spoon until combined. Pat the dough out on a floured surface until about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into strips, tear into pieces and drop into broth (you need about 7-8 cups broth) give it a quick stir and then cover the pan (tightly, see above) and let cook for five minutes. Voila!

I served the light, delicious dumplings (you get the idea) with the following:

Homemade pimento cheese spread (another Southern comfort food) with crackers and celery for a starter.

A salad of asparagus, mushroom and egg served with warm Meyer lemon vinaigrette which we had alongside the tomato dumpling, rather than before or after. The reason is, you put those dumpling in the pot and let them cook for five minutes and then they are ready to eat. You don't want to let them set on the stove while people are messing around with a salad.

Fruit and cheese plate featuring calmyrna and mission figs, blood oranges and grapes. Our chef at work gave me a tast of this unbelievable Stilton cheese with lemon rind, so I got a small slab of it and a good wedge of brie. I did buy a box of biscuits dipped in dark chocolate, just as a tiny finale--not for me though, still Lent.

Mangez!