One of the reasons I want to do this project where I cook from a cookbook I own every week is that I have a very bad habit of winging my meals. Which, in itself, isn't terrible, really. It does mean that my cookbook collection is sadly neglected most of the time, which makes me wonder why I have one if I'm not going to use it.
For the last few weeks I've been guilty of not looking at my books at all. It's been busy, it's been cold, we've been sick... so many reasons to skip the research, throw everything into a pot, and call it dinner.
This week I am hoping to make up for the deficit by making a recipe that is actually 3 recipes combined from one cookbook. It's Chicken Stew with Dumplings, from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook (Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1944).
The preface tp this book declares that it "is concerned with plain cooking. But with good plain cooking". This recipe appears to be the ultimate in plain, simple, quick, easy dinner to throw together. Put everything in a pot, cook for a long while, then mix some dough and drop it into the same pot before eating.
With modern cooking shows, books, and chefs emphasizing browning meat and onions before throwing them into a pot, just adding everything in without preparation was a bit unnerving, but delightfully simple.
