January 19, 2010
Chicken Stoup
There is nothing like chicken stoup for a rainy cold day. You don’t have to wait until you have a cold to want it.
Thick like a stew
This requires some time but you will be rewarded. I’ll give you basic measurements, but, it’s stoup, so make it your own. If you want soup, add more water and seasonings and if you like lots of meat, add more meat. Substituting rice for noodles is great. Stick with the basics though. I don’t think you can call it chicken stoup if you don’t have these core vegetables and chicken. Because the chicken won’t be boiled for hours (as in making stock), it won’t get rubbery. We’ll sear the breasts to create extra flavor and cook it with the bone to add more.
What you’ll need
| 4 halves | skinless | Chicken Breasts with Bone |
| 1 med | peeled | Yellow Onion |
| 4 quarts | Water | |
| 3 stalks | cut in half | Celery |
| 2 | cut in half | Carrots |
| 2 cloves | gently smashed | Garlic |
| 2 T | Salt | |
| 1 tsp | crushed | Peppercorns |
| 1/2 tsp | dried | Celery Seeds |
| 1/2 | with peel | Lemon |
How to make it
Over medium-high heat, melt 2 T butter to a stockpot. Remove the skin and cut the onion into 8 large chunks. Toss the onion and garlic into the pot and sauté for a few minutes with some salt and pepper then push them over to the sides. Salt and pepper chicken breasts then place them down into the pot meat side down and fry for 3 to 5 minutes to brown. Add water first then all the rest of the ingredients. Turn heat down to medium low, cover and bring to gentle boil.
Remove lid, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes. With a spoon remove some of the white foam from top of the broth if there is any. Remove and place the 4 chicken breasts onto a plate then use a large mesh or holed spoon to remove and discard everything else. Turn the heat back up to medium and add to the pot: 2 medium-diced carrots, 2 stalks of sliced celery, 1 small-diced onion, and 3 cloves of minced garlic.
While the vegetables cook, remove the meat from the chicken bones with your fingers. On a cutting board, cut up the breast meat into small pieces. After a 20 minutes, turn burner to medium-high, add a bag of egg noodles and give it a couple of good stirs. Gently boil for 10 minutes. Finally stir in the chicken, chopped fresh parsley, and additional salt and pepper to taste.
Yields approx. 8 large servings.
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