November 4 – November 10, 2024

Monday:                  Braised White Beans and Greens with Parmesan

Tuesday:                  Mushroom-Thyme Fettucine

Wednesday:          Chicken-Rice Soup

Thursday:                Polpetonne Toscanna / Mashed Sweet Potatoes w/ Harissa and Yogurt

                                    With Harissa and Pistachios

Friday:                      Crispy Salmon with Leeks and Mushrooms, and Broccoli

Saturday:                Arrabbiata Pizza

Sunday:                   Chicken Cottage/Pot-Pie

Good for What Ails You

This week we’re offering a repeat recipe – Julia Child’s Chicken with Rice Soup – because it’s just plain spectacular, because it’s beginning to get a bit chilly and a nice warm soup can help, and because the excellent fellow who takes care of our property was recovering from COVID and needed chicken soup.

We first discovered this recipe years ago, when we were just emerging from our Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Stouffer’s Lasagna and Old El Pasa Tacos Kit phase of cooking.  We were young, crazy busy with work and kids and, frankly, did not have rich family food traditions to follow.  But it seemed like a good idea, after giving the kids toaster strudel for breakfast, to offer something a bit healthier and more hands-on than Stouffer’s or Kraft.

And Julia Child was hot, not romantically, but televisionally, with her own cooking show and the marvelous and sanguinary portrayal of her by Dan Ackroyd on Saturday Night Live.  So, we indulged and bought, not the famous, difficult, technique-laden, The Art of French Cooking, but the simple, illustrated, The Way to Cook.           

The first recipe we hit on – Quick Chicken Soup – suited our life-style, attention-span and culinary ability.  It was delicious, and we’ve been cooking it ever since.  If you pair this with some home-made bread – or just a loaf of good, crusty bread – or even some Giant Eagle bakery bread with a good, room temperature salted butter, you will have a meal that will satisfy kids, adults, your elders and, based on our personal experience, your gardener.*  You will be able to sleep peacefully, having eating healthy, life-giving soup and having shared some with a friend.

*Brent, our long-time helper in all things botanical, texted a week or so ago that he had not been able to get to our leaves and grass because he had COVID.  I texted back that the yard would keep, just get better and that I was cooking some chicken soup and he was welcome to have some, next time he was in the neighborhood.  He texted back that that was the nicest offer he had received in a while and, on Saturday, came by and picked up his soup which he found good and nice and hearty after a long day’s work.  So, if you’re entertaining any doubts about this recipe, give Brent a call.

Creamy Chicken Soup

(adapted from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook)

Timing:      ½ hour – if you’re in a hurry, but I’d plan on 1 leisurely hour

Ingredients:                         Serves 6 as a main course

This is a mixture of Julia’s Clear Chicken Soup and her Rice and Onion Soup base.  I’ve listed the ingredients under those headings.

   Clear Chicken Soup

2 boned and skinned chicken breast halves

4 cups of chicken broth

1 cup each (I usually use a little to a lot more, I mean, I’m not going to discard ¼ of an onion or a half a carrot):

Onions, carrots, white and light green parts of leek, tender celery stalks.  Julia cuts these into julienne or finely dices them – I prefer to finely chop the onions and celery, cut the carrots into coins or half-coins and halve the leeks lengthwise then thinly slice.  We like some texture in our soup.

½ cup dry French vermouth or white wine

1 imported bay leaf

Small bag of frozen peas

Salt and ground black pepper

   Rice and Onion Soup Base

1 – 2 cups onions, sliced onions (I usually go for 2 – we like the onion taste)

2 tablespoons of butter

4 cups chicken stock or water

½ to 1 cup raw white rice

Salt and ground black pepper

Prep:

Chop, dice and slice all vegetables.

Trim the chicken breast halves as needed

Measure out the liquid ingredients

Prepare this optional garnish at this time.  Halve one-half of a cucumber and scoop out the seeds with a spoon, then cut the remaining cucumber, unpeeled, into matchsticks and put in a bowl with some salt and massage and set aside for serving.

Cook:

You can cook these soups simultaneously, but I prefer to cook the clear chicken soup, and then the onion/rice base.  Allowing the chicken to steep in the clear chicken soup really enhances the flavor, and cooking the soups serially allows you to avoid mistakes, boiling over, slicing your fingers, being unable to speak civilly to your spouse.

   Clear Chicken Soup:

Put all the ingredients except the frozen peas in a large saucepan (except the salt and pepper) and bring the broth to a simmer – simmer for 4 minutes and then remove the chicken breasts (let the vegetables continue to simmer) and cut the chicken into julienne or other shaped bite-sized pieces and return to the pot.  Remove from the heat, add the frozen peas and let the chicken steep in the soup.  When it’s cooled off a bit, taste and season.

   Rice and Onion Soup Base:

Sauté the onions slowly in the butter for 9 minutes or until tender.  Add the rice and stir to coat, then add the chicken stock or water, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Purée this soup in a blender and return to the pot, then taste and season.

   Finish the Cream of Chicken Soup:

Add the puréed rice and onion soup to the Clear Chicken and Vegetable soup.  Reheat. Stir in a little heavy cream or sour cream, if you like (not necessary).  Correct seasoning and serve.

Serve with a nice crusty bread and whipped butter and (not necessary, but recommended) a bit of salted cucumber in each bowl.