Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 156

Pood Quid 18 Section 7 Chicago Tribune, Thursday, April 9, 1987' Chicken and dumplings al most unbeatable as a comfort food Tahiti vanilla beans stand out in flavor, aroma By Patricia Tennison Plump, aromatic, whole vanilla beans from Tahiti are the latest news in vanilla, and they serve as a fine reminder of the difference between real and imitation flavors. With so many newer flavors to tempt us, vanilla may seem a. plain choice. But not if you venture into whole vanilla beans or fine quality extract To prove the point, we made four versions of standard sugar cookies. One used Nielsen-Massey vanilla Market Basket To flavor Squid ingredients in a recipe, spot a vanffla bean pod lengthwise with knife.

By Lucy Cooper We hear much about "comfort food" these days. Comfort food is the everyday fare that many Americans used to eat regularly, prepared by loving, stay-at-home mothers for families who ate together. Meat loaf and mashed potatoes, beef stew, fried chicken, corn chowder, pot roast, rib roast, pound cake, brownies, oatmeal cookies and two-crusted berry pie seem to be making a comeback, no doubt as a backlash to the excesses of new French, new Italian and new American cuisine. All these dishes, properly prepared, can be delicious without adding exotic ingredients such as, sun-dried tomatoes and kiwi. As I look back on childhood, I recall that, aside from our staple of pasta, Mother's most comforting preparation was chicken and dumplings.

Is anything more warming on a rainy day than this robust one-dish meal? Contrary to popular belief, it's a dish that can be prepared easily in an hour. To begin a chicken and dumplings dinner I suggest a salad of warm green beans, quartered tiny, unpeeled red potatoes and walnuts tossed in a heated vinaigrette dressing. A fresh beaujolais comes to mind as a compatible wine, but I might be equally happy with a good pinot grigio from Italy, or a California sauvignon blanc. Chicken and dumplings Four to aix servings Preparation time: 35 minute Cooking tbnw 35 minute 1 roasting chicken, about 4 pounds 2 large carrots, sliced into Winch sections 3 ribs celery and leaves, sliced crosswise into Vt- v. inch sections 1 large onion, chopped 1 whole bay leaf Vi teaspoon dried rosemary, crashed Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1 cup frozen peas Dumplings: 2 cups ail-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder Vt teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons minced parsley 1 tablespoon finely minced pimiento optional 4 tablespoons batter, In chunks ft to 1 cup milk 1.

Rinse and cut chicken into 8 pieces and place in a large pot Add carrots, celery; onion, bay leaf, rosemary, salt and pepper. Add water to barely cover ingredients with water. Do not add too much liquid or the dish will be watery. 2. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook for about IS minutes.

Add peas, un thawed. Remove bay leaf before proceeding. 3. While simmering the chicken, prepare dumpling mixture in food processor or bowl by combining flour, baking powder, salt, parsley and pimiento. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add milk gradually until mixture holds together in a lumpy dough. 4. Drop dough by the tablespoonful into the simmering broth. Cover and simmer gently for about 20 minutes without lifting the cover. Serve immediately from the pot or on a platter.

Use reduced broth as additional gravy. Note: If the broth from the chicken and vegetables is too watery, remove chicken, vegetables and dumplings to a warm platter and reduce broth at high heat until thickened. Do not add a thickening agent; the residue from the dumplings will thicken the gravy. Caution: Do not cook chicken too long before adding dumplings to the pot You might end up with shredded chicken. Kntght-Redctor Nowtpuptit Open pod, scrape out seeds and pub.

Add seeds and pulp and empty pods to llqlud Ingredients, usually milk or cream. Heat, stir and cod. extract $3.89 for 4 ounces, which earned top scores in a 1984 Food Guide vanilla extract tasting. One used a whole Tahiti vanilla bean 1 .79. The other cookies were flavored with Spice Islands' $2.99 vanilla bean and a vanilla bean purchased in bulk for $1.49 at Treasure Island.

Cookies made with the whole vanilla beans scored better than the extract, and tasters found that the Tahitian vanilla beans gave more aroma and a "caramel-like, rich vanilla flavor" to the cookies. However, the differences between the whole vanilla beans are not dramatic and likely would not be noticed unless the cookies were tried in a side-by-side taste-testing, tasters concluded. On the negative side, fresh vanilla beans leave little black specks in the otherwise lightly-colored cookies, which some tasters found disagreeable. And the cost difference is pretty high: Three dozen cookies require only 1 teaspoon of extract about 16 cents; the same batch calls for 1 vanilla bean. You can reduce that cost by using vanilla sugar in place of a bean.

Simply put a whole, split or ground vanilla bean into a jar of granulated or confectioners' sugar. Seal tightly and let the flavors blend at least a week. Sift or shake the contents once or twice during the week to help flavors blend. Use the sugar as required in the recipe, but eliminate the vanilla. Or, if using extract, take a tip from Nancy Silverton, author of "Desserts" JHarper Row, $22.50 and a pastry chef at Spago in California, and simply double the amount of vanilla extract called for in your recipe.

"I've never had a problem with the extra liquid," verton says, and the flavor is greatly enhanced. Vanilla comes from the fruit of an orchid native to tropical America. "It is the most labor intensive agri-cultureal product in the world," writes Patricia Rain in "Vanilla Cookbook" Celestial Arts; $8.95. "From planting the vine to bottling the aged extract is a five-year process, and each step of the process up to extraction must be done by hand." Even in its native habitat, vanilla was a rare and precious commodity, Rain says. "Aztecs considered it a gift from the gods and could afford it only for the rituals of the Aztec nobility.

"In Madagascar, now the largest vanilla growing area in the world, vanilla beans are still so valuable that each bea'h is branded with the owner's special mark to protect it from 'vanilla Rain states. I Tribunt fluttoMlont by Am Amvn WhyA Bone Gives HoneyBaked Brand Ham Remove empty pod from cool iquid and Wot dry. Pod may be reused or placed hi sugar bowl to make vanilla sugar. However, branding isn't done in Tahiti. "They don't need to," says Marc Jones, co-owner of Tahitian Im- ports, the largest exporter of Tahitian vanilla beans.

The Tahitians are an unusually honest people." The very aromatic Tahitian beans are actually a different variety of plant, says Peter Stone, Jones' busi- ness partner. "The vine is a little greener, the leaves shorter, and the beans are flatter and thicker." Tahitian beans we sampled were usually large and soft. They may be purchased in Chicago at Wild Game, 858 N. Orleans or at Food Works, 1008 W. Diversey for $1.79 each.

Tahitian vanilla bean extract also is available at these stores for $5.49 for a 4-ounce bottle. For mail order, write Tahitian Imports, P.O. Box 67A54, Century City Station, Los Angeles, Calif. 90067. 213 655-4895.

Three beans cost 10 beans, $20; a 2-ounce bottle of extract, $3. There is an additional $2 charge for postage and handling. A Leg Up. When it comes to ham, HoneyBaked brand hams give others some pretty stiff competition. And we make ho bonesabout it.

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Use the bone to make great tasting, nutritious soups. Great with beans, peas and barley. Next time you buy a ham, make sure it a HoneyBaked brand ham. The one with the bone. The flavor.

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