Remember Gourmet magazine? Well, this is adapted from one of their recipes, way back in 1999! Even after all these years, this is still a favorite in my house.
It is hearty, delicious and pretty darn simple to make. Everything goes into the pot, with only minor chopping and you walk away, for an hour. The brown rice is essential here because its heavy, starchy texture holds up to the hourlong cooking and breaks down a bit to produce a pleasing texture, that adds great body to the soup. Additionally, it doesn’t hurt that the brown rice also has better nutritional value than white rice. Although you might be tempted to use white rice, know that the white rice would break down and become too mushy; not the greatest texture.
Since the bulk of the “work” is deboning the chicken, you could make this even easier by just using chicken breasts. However, I think, if you have the time/patience, the whole chicken imparts much more flavor.
INGREDIENTS
1 large onion, roughly chopped
4 large celery sticks, cut into 1/4″ slices
3-4 medium carrots, cut into 1/4″ slices
1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 -4 lbs.
1 cup long grain brown rice
1/3 to 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 Tbs. kosher salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste
3-4 quarts of water
DIRECTIONS
First, combine all ingredients in a 6 quart pot. Then, add the water to the pot, bring to a boil. Occasionally skim off any fat or scum, as it comes to the top. Then, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for an hour.
Remove the chicken from the pot. When it’s cool enough to handle, remove the meat, discard the skin and bones. Then, shred the chicken with two forks and return it to the soup. The shredding gives the soup a more pleasing texture than just solid chunks of chicken.
Then, check for seasoning, add more salt and pepper, if needed, add a sprinkling of chopped flat-leaf parsley and serve. This makes quite a bit of soup and worth noting then, that it’s a great to stock the freezer with. Which then comes in handy when you need a quick lunch, a sick day or just a cold day, when a warm bowl of soup soothes the soul.
