Saturday, August 29, 2009

Chicken and Sliders

Wow--my debut post! I am totally excited about this blogging business!

 I thought my first post should be something that I do best (baking), but my mother-in-law has been craving a batch of Chicken and Sliders and I was only too happy to oblige. This is the ultimate in comfort food and, since it barely reached 70 degrees here today, we could use a little comfort!

Chicken and Sliders is a French Canadian dish that was born during the Great Depression (how fitting that we still love it now). The "sliders" are actually homemade noodles, or dumplings. My mother-in-law's(Alice), grandmother taught her how to make Chicken and Sliders all those years ago and she has been making it for her family ever since. Unfortunately, as Alice has gotten older (she'll be 87 next month!), she has been unable to do any of the cooking that her family has come to expect. So it is up to me to learn how to make her fabulous meals and share them with my husband's siblings. Ha--they better be nice to me!

First I started by coarsly chopping up some celery, carrots and onion. I'm not much for measurements for some of these things. I probably used 3 stalks of celery, 6 or 8 baby carrots and a half of a large Vidalia onion. I put those in a stock pot with a couple of chicken boullion cubes, 3 bay leaves and 2 cloves of crushed garlic.

To this I added my chicken. I used 4 chicken thighs, with the skin, and two skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Ideally, I would have used a whole cut-up chicken, but this is what I had (remember, this is a depression meal....use what you have, sweetie).
Then I filled the pot with enough water to cover the chicken and then some. I added salt (very little, since the boullion cubes are loaded with it), pepper, and Italian seasoning and brought the whole thing to a boil. Next, I turned the heat down to "simmer", covered the pot and let it cook until the chicken was very tender, about 2 hours.
Once the chicken was tender, I removed it from the broth, took the skin and bones off, and broke it into large chunks. Well, some of it broke into small chunks, but you know what I mean. I put this in the refrigerator for later.
Here comes the most important part of making this dish----the sliders. First, I strained the broth into a large bowl through a colander in order to remove the vegetables and the bay leaves. Then, I saved one cup of the broth, putting it aside to cool. The broth went back into the pot to be used when the sliders were ready.
I put 3 cups of flour into a large bowl and made a well in the middle. To this I added the reserved, cooled broth and 2 beaten eggs. With a wooden spoon, I mixed this into a sticky dough.
Then, I turned the dough onto a floured surface, added a bit more flour and lightly kneaded it until it was no longer sticky. Next, I rolled it out fairly thin and sprinkled a little more flour over the top.
Using a pizza cutter, I cut the dough into long strips. These can be uneven, it matters not.
I brought the broth back to a rolling boil and added all of the sliders, then reduced the heat to "simmer", covered the pot and let the sliders cook for about 25 to 30 minutes. Quite honestly, I made them a little too thick, but they turned out OK anyway.
After the sliders are cooked, you can add the chicken back in. You can also make a roux, with a little flour and broth, and add that back into the broth if you want a thicker "gravy" for the sliders to swim in.
And there you have it. Chicken and Sliders. Want to add even more comfort to your meal? Simply serve your Chicken and Sliders over mashed potatoes. And have something chocolaty for dessert. :)

19 comments:

  1. YEAH!!!! You'r very firstest ever post on your blog!!! Congrats girlfriend! It looks great and yummy and I'm coming over for dinner! :D

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  2. Yay!! I love your new blog!! And I love this French Canadian comfort meal! I wonder if my grandparents made it.

    I looks perfect for a cool/cold day!

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  3. Welcome to the blogging world, Cathy.
    Congratulations on your tasty and comforting first post.
    Can't wait to see your baked goodies as well.

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  4. Hey hey! :D

    I've never seen this dish before, it looks awesome. Fall seems to have descended here rather suddenly, I'm going to have to copy this one down.

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  5. Congratulations on your new blog!! In Pennsylvania Dutch country we make this, cutting the "dough" into two inch by two inch squares and it is called pot pie, slippery pot pie or even Bott Boi. No matter what you call it, it is delicious. My husband loves this meal, we make it with beef, ham, chicken and some people with sausage, yuck. Yours looks really really good!

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  6. Congrats on yoru first post! I've never had any version of chicken and dumplings but it always looks so good. This looks easy and delicious too! I think I'll have to try it!

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  7. Congratulations on your new blog, Cathy.

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  8. i'm gonna try this soon..have bookmarked your blog...heard about you from babette from bakespace.com your blog looks good!! congratulations!!

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  9. Having a French Canadian Meme of my own this was all of my families FAVORITE dish. When asked what do you want for your birthday dinner I always say.. Chicken and dumplings and in my house that means sliders all the way baby. These are the best and gladnto see you sharing it with the world. Peace, love and comfort food.

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  10. My father used to make Chicken and dumplings (sliders) he would boil chicken breasts with the skin on, potatoes, onions, salt and pepper, then he would make the sliders with some cooled broth, flour and an egg, roll them out THIN and cut them into pieces about 3" by 4" and add them back to the pot after having removed the chicken. It was always a favorite in our home.
    I had actually never heard of them referred to as sliders until I was an adult and had never seen drop dumplings LOL
    Deb

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  11. im making this right now, lol. my husband has been begging for sliders for the longest time and I had never had them. So I found your blog and hes getting what he wants. Thanks!

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  12. It's been a favorite resume in my family as my Grandma is French-Canadian. She always called it "chicken and potpie". What is the french term for it?

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    1. Terri, I believe the French word for "slider" is "glisson". I'm not sure of the word for pot pie. :)

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  13. I am French Canadian and grew up with this dish, which is called "Poulet et Glissants", which translates to "Chicken and Sliders". It originated during the Depression era to stretch the family meal, but it is a favourite with most French Canadians and is definitely a comfort food. We also add a small amount of baking powder, salt. I have made with and without eggs and find both ways good. It's important to roll out your dough as thinly as possible as they do increase in size during cooking. Thanks for posting this, I'm going to make this for dinner. :)
    Rochelle

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  14. Covering them makes them "plump" so I cook mine uncovered. :)

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  15. If you don't want them to "plump" up so fat...just cook them uncovered like a normal noodle, instead of covering the pot like with dumplings. ;) Hope this helps.

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  16. I made glissants today. My recipe is slightly different, but good! My grandmother was French Canadian, and as others commented, it was popular during the Depression. My recipe calls for 2 C flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt. Beat 1 egg in a cup and fill cup with milk. Mix, roll, cut, and drop into boiling stock. This recipe really "sticks to your ribs!"

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  17. My Grandma made this...I am not sure if she made the dough the same way, but she served it over mashed potatoes. So good. Such wonderful memories! She was from Ohio. :)

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  18. Thank you for the cultural history behind this dish; I just learned about it today! Making it for dinner now--it sounds soooo good!

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