chicken stock

Cream of Asparagus Soup

/ sandramervillehart

I found this recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, a book originally published in 1896. Fannie Farmer’s name is still well-known today.

Stock, water enriched by the food cooked in it, is an important ingredient in numerous soups. Homemade stock brings full-bodied flavor to recipes. The recipe for the chicken stock used in this recipe is found here.

To make this soup, finely chop enough onion to give 2 tablespoons and set aside.

I used a pound of fresh asparagus, but frozen asparagus is also good. If using fresh, wash the vegetable and then chop off the coarse ends (about two inches from the end of the spear) and discard.

Boil 3 cups of water. Chop each asparagus spear a second time and drop the vegetables into boiling water. I cooked my asparagus for 4 minutes—about 1 minute too long as a few spears were limp. Next time I will boil them for 3 minutes.

Put a colander into a medium bowl and drain the asparagus. Reserve one cup of this water. The green liquid is filled with nutrients and flavor.

Cut off the asparagus tops. Chop them and set aside.

Pour the reserved water and 1 ½ cups of chicken stock or chicken broth into a large saucepan. (I used chicken stock.) Add 2 tablespoons of chopped onion to the liquid. Cook over a high heat until it begins to boil. Add the asparagus (without the reserved tops) and lower the heat to simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Puree the asparagus with the broth in a blender or food processor. I used a blender and had to divide it into two batches to puree.

Run the pureed mixture through a colander one more time for a creamier soup. After rinsing the used saucepan, pour the soup inside. Add 1 cup of milk or heavy cream. (I used milk. Use cream if you prefer thicker soup.)

Salt and pepper to taste. A half teaspoon of salt wasn’t enough so I added more. A teaspoon of salt was about right for me, but this is purely a personal preference.

Heat the soup over a medium heat until hot.

Garnish the creamy soup with the reserved chopped asparagus tops. I thought it tasted delicious and will make it again.

This recipe makes 5 one-cup servings.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

 

 

Cream of Carrot Soup

/ sandramervillehart

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, originally published in 1896, has a lot of great recipes. This cream of carrot soup is surprisingly light and delicious.

Stock, water enriched by the food cooked in it, is an important ingredient in numerous soups. Homemade stock brings full-bodied flavor to recipes. The recipe for the chicken stock used in this recipe is found  here.

To make cream of carrot soup, chop 1 onion and 1 celery stalk with leaves. Peel and slice 4 carrots.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan. Stir in onion, celery, and carrots. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While those vegetables are cooking, peel and dice 2 medium potatoes. Chop 2 sprigs of parsley.

Stir potatoes and parsley into the vegetables just until coated. Pour in 5 cups of chicken stock or chicken broth. (I didn’t have enough chicken stock so I used half of each.) Cook, partially covered, for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Puree the vegetables and broth in a food processor or a blender.

Pour the pureed liquid through a colander into a medium mixing bowl to catch anything the blender missed.

Rinse out the saucepan and then pour the soup back into it. Stir in 1 cup of heavy cream. Salt and pepper to taste. I used a teaspoon of salt.

Heat the soup over a medium heat until hot. Do not boil.

Garnish the creamy soup with a parsley sprig if desired. This delicious soup was worth the extra steps. I plan to make it again to serve to dinner guests.

This recipe makes 7 one-cup servings and can be served hot or cold.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

Chicken Gumbo Soup Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

I prepared chicken stock using a recipe found in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, giving me cooked chicken and chicken stock. I decided to make chicken gumbo soup.

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup okra, frozen or fresh

2 stalks of celery, sliced

½ cup carrots, bite-sized slices

1 can (about 16 ounces) diced tomatoes

½ cup uncooked rice, brown or white

2 cups cubed or shredded chicken

Salt

Pepper

Fresh minced parsley (optional)

As Fannie warned, my chicken stock gelled in the refrigerator. Also, it had only made about 3 ½ cups of stock. I added enough water to make 4 cups into a large kettle. I warmed this over medium heat until in liquid form again.

Add okra, celery, carrots, and tomatoes to the warmed stock. Stir in the uncooked rice. Cover and cook on medium heat for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the soup from sticking.

Reduce heat to low. Add chicken. Salt and pepper to taste. (Since I had not salted my chicken stock, I used a teaspoon of salt—the perfect amount for me.) Cook on low for about ten minutes to heat the chicken.

Garnish with a little minced parsley, if desired.

This made a hearty soup that I found delicious. One bowl is plenty for a meal.  I think an extra cup of stock would have been perfect, so I will use 5 cups of stock next time.

I’d love to hear from you if you try these recipes. Enjoy!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

Preparing Chicken Stock

/ sandramervillehart / 1 Comment

I recently ran across The Fannie Farmer Cookbook in an antique store. This book was originally published in 1896. Fannie Farmer’s name is still well-known today.

Reading Fannie Farmer’s recipe for stock intrigued me. I’ve made chicken broth from chicken but realized that is different from Fannie’s chicken stock.

Instead of making stock using chicken wings, necks, backs, and bones, I decided to use a whole chicken. This gave me boiled chicken to make soup for an easy supper the following day.

A local butcher cut up the chicken for me. Included in the package were the neck, heart, gizzard, and back. I used the legs, breasts, thighs, wings, neck, and back and discarded the rest.

Wash the chicken and put into a large pot, holding out the breasts and wings to be added later. Add eight cups of cold water. Cut one peeled onion in half and place in the pot. Add six baby carrots or peel two carrots and cut them into thirds.

Slice in half three celery stalks, including the leaves. Add a bay leaf, a teaspoon dried thyme, and six crushed peppercorns.

Cook on medium high heat until water begins to boil then reduce to simmer. Since white meat cooks more quickly than dark meat, add breasts and wings after the stock has simmered for twenty minutes.

Cover and simmer until chicken is done. Mine was ready in about an hour. Remove chicken from pot. Debone. Add bones and skin back into the stock and continue simmering.

Refrigerate the chicken for later use in another recipe.

The total simmering time is four to five hours, which includes the time it takes to cook the chicken.

Fannie suggests waiting to add salt until using the stock in a recipe. This allows for salty flavors of other ingredients.

Should you choose to season the stock itself, add salt to taste just before it is done.

Strain the stock and allow to cool. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Stock made from bones will gel in the refrigerator. When the broth thaws out, skim off the top layer of fat.

This smells and tastes delicious, even without salt. The stock smells so aromatic and appetizing that your family may be hungry for supper a little early.

Enjoy!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.