Old-Fashioned Tomato Dumplings

Place tomatoes and onion in a medium size saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the tomatoes start to release their juices. Take a little taste of the juice and season with salt and pepper to your liking. If the tomatoes are a little tart, add just a pinch of sugar. When the tomatoes begin to boil, cover pan and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes have broken down and the onion is very tender. Near the end of the cooking time for the tomatoes, begin to make your dumpling dough.

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two butter knives until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk or buttermilk. Stir with a fork just until all the flour mixture is moistened. Don’t overwork or your dumplings will be tough. It will look like a super thick batter.

Using two soup spoons, drop the dough into the simmering tomatoes about 1 1/2″ apart. You will probably get about 7 or 8 dumplings. When all the dumplings are dropped in, cover pan with the lid and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid. After 15 minutes remove pan from the heat and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes with the lid still in place.

To serve, gently lift the dumplings out of the tomatoes. Spoon the tomatoes over the top. Serve hot with a pat of butter on top.