Chicken and Rice Soup

I woke up this Saturday morning feeling not quite right. I wasn't hung-over and I didn't feel any flu symptoms so I guess it is just a cold. I believe in the old adage, "feed a cold, starve a fever" so the first thing that came to mind was to feed this cold some chicken soup!

Over the past months I have been collecting all of the unused parts from the whole chickens that I buy in my freezer. So I brought them all out along with a whole chicken breast and made a big pot of chicken stock which I let simmer for 3 hours. I strained the stock two times and put in the fridge. Once cooled a layer of solid fat formed on the top, which was easily removed. I discarded all of the chicken pieces except for the breast. I removed the bones from it and "pulled" the meat from it, in other words, I tore off bite sized pieces to use in the soup.

I used to like to make chicken noodle soup with egg noodles, but of course egg noodles aren't just egg, they're made with wheat flour. I'd be interested to see if there is a gluten-free noodle that is similar, but I haven't seen any. I've used gluten free pasta as a substitute in chicken noodle soup before and was less than thrilled with the result, the pasta either falls apart completely or is too rubbery, either way it wasn't the texture I was looking for in a noodle. I've also made chicken soup with potatoes which I always enjoy. This time I've chosen to use basmati rice as the grain in my soup and the result was great.


Chicken and Rice Soup
Serves 4

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion- diced
2 stalks celery- diced
2 carrots- peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic- minced
Sea Salt and crushed black pepper to taste
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cup of cooking sherry (or other dry white wine)
8-10 crimini mushrooms- sliced
1 cup of broccoli- cut to bite sized
9 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of uncooked basmati rice
one whole chicken breast- cooked, skin and bones removed and pulled (or cut-up)
1/2 cup heavy cream

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• Heat a large stock pot with the olive oil to medium heat
• Stir in the onion, celery, carrots and garlic saute for a few minutes until the onion becomes translucent
• Add the Salt and pepper, thyme, parsley, bay leaves and the sherry
• Next mix in the Mushrooms and broccoli, cook for another minute or two
•Add the Chicken broth and turn op the heat to medium high, bring to a boil
• Once boiling add the rice, reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes loosely covered, stirring occasionally
• After 20 minutes stir in the chicken and cream, bring it back to a boil and then reduce to simmer for another 5 minutes
• Serve and enjoy!

Chicken and Rice Soup

Chicken Broth

Buying gluten-free chicken broth is a real pain. Forget about the old days of using bouillon cubes. Finding a gluten-free canned broth is rare or impossible and buying boxes of broth is expensive and you can easily end up throwing it out if you don't use it within a few days, that is why I started making my own chicken broth. Once I make it I freeze it in ice cube trays (perfect one ounce containers) and keep the cubes in an air-tight container in the freezer to use whenever I need them for soups and sauces or stir-fry. I also use this broth often to give flavor to rice.

These days since the price of chicken breast is so high I just buy whole chickens. I cut-up the chicken, set aside the leg quarters, wings and breasts and use all of the rest (except the excess fat) for the broth. Often I'll include one of the breasts in order to use it for chicken salad (my wife's favorite). I like to make the broth and let it cook while I'm working in the kitchen on other things since it doesn't require much attention. Here's my recipe:

Chicken Broth:

yields about 4 cups broth

Cut pieces of uncooked chicken, including neck, bones, etc...
2 cloves of garlic- smashed
1/2 onion- cut in large pieces
1 carrot- peeled, cut in large pieces
1 stalk of celery, including leaves-cut in large pieces
1 Tbsp whole peppercorns
@1 Tsp salt
1 large bay leaf

Several sprigs of fresh parsley or other fresh herbs (optional)

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• Fill a medium sauce pan around three-quarters full of filtered water
• Add all of the ingredients and bring to a boil
• Once it boils reduce it to simmer and let it cook for 1 hour uncovered
• Occasionally remove the foam that forms on the surface with a slotted spoon.
• Once done remove from heat, put a top on and let it cool and place
it in the refrigerator to cool.
• Later, discard the layer of fat that forms on the surface, strain and it's
ready to use, or freeze for later

Chicken Broth