1.26.2008

Chicken soup recipe

I don't cook meat often and have never made chicken soup, but this is my mom's recipe and it's pretty good.
  1. Fill up a soup pot with water, put a chicken in, and bring to a boil on the stove.
  2. When the water's boiling, my mom says to "skim the fat off, and any 'chicken crud' that floats to the surface."
  3. Add 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery and 2 parsnips. You can cut them in half but no smaller, because you're going to be fishing them out later.
  4. Tie a whole bunch of Dill together and put it on the top - you're fishing this out later as well.
  5. Add salt & pepper to taste. Not too much!
  6. Leave it on the stove for 2-4 hours. I'd say between 3 and 4.
  7. When you're done cooking it, fish out the chicken and the veggies.
    • The dill goes in the trash.
    • Put some pieces of chicken in the soup when you serve it. Give the rest to the dog. (Sky enjoys chicken soup days :-)
    • The carrots and parsnip are placed in seperate containers, and sliced back into the soup when you serve it. I don't remember if the celery gets served or not, but you might as well.
  8. Matzah balls are made seperately (and usually by Grandma E). They are placed in the soup just before serving, but give them enough time to warm up.
We usually have chicken soup on Rosh Hashanah, Erev (the eve of) Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Pesach. The chicken soup is prepared a day or 2 in advance since there's a lot of cooking going on for those holidays. The soup goes back on the stove to warm before serving. We put the matzah balls in at that time to warm up - frozen matzah balls are not yummy. When the soup is served, everyone gets 1 large or 2 medium matzah balls, some veggie slices from a container on the counter, and sometimes some parsley on top, as a garnish.

Mom says you can put Chicken Consomme powder in for more flavor, but then you're making chicken soup from powdered chicken soup and she (and I) think that's silly.

Thanks for all your help with the Bronze dilemma!

2 comments:

Beatrice said...

Your Mom's recipe sounds yummy! I love the way it is described. I think I'd rather your mom made it than me because it sounds better that mine,
Maybe its the powdered chicken [soup]I use...LOL

Have a good weekend.

Janet said...

Hey Kim, thanks a million!!!! (and thank your Mom too).This looks great - I can't wait to try it (and all with only 1 chicken!!!). I've found a kosher deli near where my brother lives and I will be at the door when the shops open on Tuesday, they had better have matzah meal!