Instructions

1. 1

   Rinse the boiling fowl inside and out under cold water, put it in a large pan, cover it with the water and add the 2 tsp salt. Bring everything to the boil and skim off the foam that rises.

2. 2

   Trim the soup vegetables and cut them into rough pieces, and halve the onion. Add both with the bay leaf and the peppercorns and leave the broth to simmer gently over a low heat.

3. 3

   For the dumplings, beat the soft butter or margarine with the egg until light and fluffy. Stir in the semolina with the pinch of salt and the nutmeg and leave the mixture to swell.

4. 4

   Lift out the chicken; the meat is done when it comes away from the bone easily and the juices run clear. Pour the broth through a fine sieve and skim off the fat.

5. 5

   Strip the meat from the bones, remove the skin and bones and cut the meat into cubes.

6. 6

   Bring plenty of salted water to the boil in a wide pan and turn the heat down. Using two moistened teaspoons, shape dumplings from the semolina mixture, drop them into the barely simmering water and leave them to poach until they rise to the surface.

7. 7

   Trim the carrots and the leek and cut them into fine strips. Cook the vegetables in the broth until only just tender.

8. 8

   Warm the cubes of meat through in the broth and season the soup with salt.

9. 9

   Lift the dumplings into warmed bowls with a slotted spoon, ladle the hot soup over them and scatter with the snipped chives.