Let's begin at the beginning. Pot pie, to most people in the US, is a double pastry crust filled with meat, gravy and vegetables. To my family and other families with Pennsylvania Dutch roots, pot pie is a hearty soup of chicken, turkey or ham, veggies, a slightly thickened broth and thick dumpling like home made egg noodles. You can add these noodles to just about any basic chicken or turkey soup and you will end up with pure comfort food.
This recipe was handwritten on the inside cover of my grandmother's cook book. It is a simple dough of flour, fat, eggs, water and salt. This recipe makes enough for a large pot of soup but the ingredients are easy to halve.
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP solid fat (bacon grease is a favorite, or butter, margarine (Earth Balance), lard, coconut oil)
2 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup cool water
The old school way to make this is straight on the counter and mixed with your hands. I use a bowl and a fork (and my hands)
Mix the flour and salt, cut in the fat. Pile up the dry ingredients and make a well. Add 2 eggs and 3-4 TBSP of cool water to the well. Slowly incorporate more and more dry ingredients, adding small amounts of water at a time
until a slightly stiff dough forms. Knead for a minute or two until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick (of thinner) and cut into 1 inch squares with a pizza cutter or knife. Dust with flour and allow the noodles to dry on the counter for a couple hours. Toss the noodles occasionally to facilitate even drying. If you need them sooner, you can speed the drying process in a 250 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
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My grandmother made noodles very similar every Sunday but she usually made hers in a beef broth. There was always potatoes, a meat and these noodles in a big bowl on the table. This was a Pennsylvania coal mining family in the 1950's and 60's and probably earlier.
ReplyDeleteMy Nanna would make these noodles, when I was a little girl. But she did not dry them. She just added them to the beef soup. These are the only dumplings I like to add to my soup. They are the best!! Thank you for the recipe.
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