ariels@orca.UUCP (Ariel Shattan) (12/06/85)
Eric Blankenburg wants soup recipes to fend off the cold Champaign-Urbana winds. Well, this may not be a "hearty" soup, but when I lived in C-U, my housemates just ate it up (heh, heh). CHICKEN SOUP like my Mama taught me Ingredients: chicken onions; 6-10 medium or 12-16 small carrots celery dried basil dried parsely salt powdered garlic Take a chicken or parts of a chicken. If you're not going to use the whole bird, the legs, wings, neck, and back are the best parts. if you can get chicken feet, they're very good to use, too, as they are less expensive and add a lot of (chicken) flavor. I try and use Kosher chickens, as they are more flavorful (due to the intricacies of the kashering process). Clean the chicken: rinse it in cool water and pull as much fat off as you can. If you do this now, you won't have to skim the soup. It's a very messy job. If you want really lo-fat soup, remove the skin. If you want to do this whole thing traditionally, save the fat and skin to render into schmaltz, otherwise, wrap it up and dump it, or give it to your cat (who will then love you forever). Put the chicken in a large pot (the bigger the pot, the more soup you'll have. Last time I made soup I used a canning vat and 2 1/2 chickens, but that was for 25 people). Fill the pot with cool water, leaving space at the top for the vegetables (I always put in too much water and have to take some out later). Put the pot on the stove on a medium-high flame. Peel the onions, if medium, slice them in half, otherwise, leave them whole. I always use a lot of onions. In my opinion, you can't have too many onions in chicken soup. Put them in the pot. Cover the pot and heat to boiling. Toss in some dried parsely and about 2 teaspoons of dried basil, stir. Turn heat down and simmer while you prepare the rest of the veggies. Skin the carrots (or else they will turn black when you boil them) Cut up the carrots and celery. I like them in long thin pieces, but you can cut them anyway you like them. Dump the veggies in the soup. This is the point at which I usually have to take out some water. Stir. Let the soup simmer 'til it begins to taste like chicken soup (1 hr +). Add some salt (~ 3 teaspoons). If you want more salt, add it. I put in a little garlic powder here. Not too much, you don't want an overpowering flavor of garlic. Simmer a while longer. Stir and taste occasionally. Play with the seasonings (salt, basil, garlic). 'til it suits you. Remember that people who like a lot of salt can always add more. Serve with noodles, rice, challa (bread) or matzo balls. (I like matzo balls, but they can be tricky to make.) If you have leftovers, you can add more water and heat it up again 2 or 3 times before it threatens to get too thin (un-chickeny) and you have to finish it. The longer it sits, the more the flavors mingle. Ariel (eat, eat, it's good for you) Shattan ..!tektronix!tekecs!ariels