Chicken Soup
Years ago we had a Christmas party for Doug’s graduate students and asked them to bring their favorite Christmas goodie. One of the women brought chicken soup because that was traditional Christmas food at her house. She tells me that it is much better if you can make it with a yard chicken. The ones at the grocery store are just too tender, but a yard chicken has to be cooked all day and provides more flavor. If you can get a yard chicken, delete the chicken bouillon.
In the years since I first wrote this recipe, I have tried it with yard chicken. It is all true. I was able to boil the yard chicken for 8 hours and I didn’t end up with mush. The flavor was wonderful with no bouillon added. It’s almost impossible, but I wish I could find a steady source of yard chickens!
Now with this web edition of the cookbook I have found a steady source of stewing chickens. The Asian market sells stewing chicken that makes the very best chicken broth around. For more information see the recipe for stock.
Yield: 6 servings
Time: 2-3 hours large pot
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
Water or stock if you have it
1 onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic
3 tsp instant bouillon granules (delete if using stock)
2 cup carrots, cubed
2 cup green beans, fresh, cut
1 egg
1 tbs water
1/2 cup flour
Instructions:
Wash thawed chicken inside and out being sure to take all the giblets out of the cavity. For a light soup cut away all visible fat around the cavity. Place washed chicken in the large pot and cover with water. Add onion, celery, salt, pepper, and garlic. Boil for 1 hour.
Remove chicken being sure not to miss any bones. Pull all meat off the chicken bones and discard the bones. Chop meat into small pieces.
You can strain the broth if you prefer it very clear, but I usually don’t. If you have time place the chicken and broth in the refrigerator until the broth is cold and the fat has hardened on the top. This will add about 1 hour to your cooking time.
Remove all the hardened fat, add chicken to broth, and continue cooking. Add carrots and green beans. Cook for 30 minutes.
15 minutes before serving time place the egg into a small bowl, beat with a fork, add flour and mix into dough adding water until it is the consistency of toothpaste. Drop the dough into the soup by small iced-tea-spoonfuls. Place the lid on the pot and continue cooking for 10 minutes. The dumplings will rise to the top, but stir them before serving and they will mix in.