Leahs Chicken Soup Food

LEAH'S CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Place the chicken quarters in the largest pot you own with the onions, carrots and celery. Fill the pot with cold water 3/4 full. Season with salt and pepper and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 45 minutes to 1 hour, skimming foam as necessary.
• Stir the dill into the pot and cook 5 minutes more. Remove from heat, uncover, and let cool to lukewarm.
• Remove the chicken. Get another big huge receptacle and pour the soup through a sieve into it. (Discard useless destroyed vegetables and stray chicken parts.) Refrigerate or freeze for future use. When cool enough to handle, shred or chop chicken meat for future use.
• Authors notes: Put some of this stock away in the freezer for recipes -- it's good to add to a turkey roasting pan instead of water, to rice, and to just about everything else -- or emergencies such as company, illness or tsuris. If you want to make soup, put some of the stock on the stove in a soup pot (not the big one unless you're feeding mishpocha). When it's about ten minutes before serving time, add some of the chicken, carrot coins, extra fine egg noodles, or celery.

SIMPLE CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Put the bones and carcass from a leftover chicken (they can be in pieces) in a large pot. Cover with the broth and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Skim any foam or fat from the broth with a ladle as necessary.
• Remove the bones and carcass with tongs or a slotted spoon; set aside to cool. Add the carrots, celery, onion and bay leaf to the broth, bring back to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are about half cooked (they will still have resistance when tested with a knife but be somewhat pliable when bent), about 10 minutes. Stir in the rice (to keep it from sticking to the bottom), and cook until the grains are just al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Meanwhile, when the carcass and bones are cool enough to handle, pick off the meat, and shred it into bite-size pieces.
• When the rice is done, add the meat to the broth and simmer until warmed through, about 1 minute. Stir in the parsley, and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste. Serve hot.

CHICKEN SOUP W/ APPLES AND LEEKS

Steps:

• Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
• Melt the butter over medium heat in a saute pan just large enough to hold the chicken.
• Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook for about eight minutes over medium heat.
• If the butter in the pan starts to brown, lower the heat slightly.
• Turn the chicken and light saute in the same way for five minutes more.
• Remove the chicken from the pan and place it in a bowl.
• If the butter in the saute pan has burned, pour it out and replace it with two tablespoons fresh butter.
• Add the leeks and cook them for 10 minutes over medium heat.
• Stir the leeks every couple of minutes.
• They should be soft but not brown.
• Put the chicken back in the pan with the leeks.
• Add the apples, apple juice, vinegar and broth.
• Bring the liquids to a slow simmer and with a ladle skim off any fat or froth that floats to the top.
• Cover the pot and simmer the chicken very gently for 10-15 minutes , until it is completely cooked.
• Remove the chicken and let it cool.
• Remove and discard the skin and pull the meat away from the bones.
• Cut the meat into half inch chunks.
• Use a ladle to skim off any fat that has formed on the surface of the liquid in a saute pan.
• Add the Calvados and the heavy cream.
• Bring to a simmer and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Heat the chunks of chicken in the soup for two minutes and serve immediately in hot bowls.
• Suggestions and variations: Try adding a cup of sliced mushrooms along with the apples.
• The mushroom flavor goes well with the other ingredients, and the mushrooms make the soup more substantial.
• This soup is also delicious with curry, which can be added by gently cooking a tb of curry powder in a tb of butter and stirring it into the soup shortly before serving.

LEA'S TOM KA KAI SOUP

Steps:

• In medium to large saucepan, bring to boil ALL ingredients EXCEPT garlic, red chili, ginger root, cilantro, chicken, and half and half cream.
• Meanwhile, chop the remaining ingredients (except chicken and half and half cream) finely in chopping machine, then add this to the pot.
• Chop and boil the chicken pieces in the soup for around 5 minutes or until fully cooked.
• Add the half-and-half cream to the soup and stir constantly to avoid curdling for around three minutes.
• Remove lemon grass root upon serving, or tell victims to remove before eating the soup!
• Serve soup warm or hot.
• NOTE: fish sauce, oyster sauce, Tom Yum paste may be purchased at a Thai or Chinese market. Also, sometimes your local store will carry these items.