Recipe - Mushroom Soup with dumplings

This uses the chicken stock and rendered chicken fat found here as its base, and only gets better from there.

Ingredients:
For the soup
1 gallon chicken stock
1.5 pounds crimini mushrooms
2 medium onions
2 large carrots
1 Tbsp. dried Rosemary
1 Tbsp. dried Thyme
3 oz. rendered chicken fat
1 Tbsp. butter

For the noodles
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
Half-cup cornmeal
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. water
Pinch of salt

Preparation:
In a large stock pot, get the stock heating.

Put the rosemary and thyme in a cheesecloth bag (or, better yet, a disposable tea bag), leash it, and put it in the pot.

In a large skillet, begin heating the chicken fat and butter over medium heat.

Wash, then halve or quarter the criminis (depending on size), and brown them in small batches in the fat. Once browned, add to the soup. Do not salt the mushrooms!

Dice the onions very small - caramelize in the fat and add to the soup.

Slice the carrots, and add to the soup.

Bring the soup to a low boil and begin on the dumplings.

Hopefully you have a stand mixer. If not, this part is going to be unpleasant.

Add the flour, cornmeal, and salt to the mixer bowl, and whisk to combine.

Make a depression in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the eggs. Fold briefly with a spatula.

Using the dough-hook, begin kneading the dough. Add water slowly until it forms a ball that pulls all of the dry ingredients from the bowl. Continue to knead for an additional minute.

Roll the dough out approximately 1/16" thick, and cut into square dumplings. Let stand for a few minutes.

While the dough is resting, bring the soup to a rolling boil, and remove the spice bag.

Add dumplings to soup - boil for about five minutes.

Serve.

You're going to need:
A stand mixer.
A large stockpot.
A large skillet.

Serves:
6-8 as a soup course.
2-4 as a main course.