Kay Spicer's Chicken Soup

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

64 people added this to their Recipe Box

This recipe makes 10 servings

Kay Spicer, food writer and author of the cookbook Light & Easy Choices (Grosvenor House Press Inc., 1985), has three grown-up children who each have a different favourite dish. Son Bob goes for scalloped potatoes baked with pork chops, a dish that harks back to his mom's Prairie roots. Daughter Patti says rice pudding is her favourite ("no contest,"), and home economist daughter Susan Spicer Angrove opts for chicken soup, saying, "We all used to beg her for chicken soup." Fresh-tasting and tomatoey, it's a memory-making soup.

Ingredients

Stock:
1 chicken , about 3-1/2 lb1 1chickenchickens, about 3-1/2 lb
16 cups cold water , approx16 16cups cupscold water, approx
2 celery stalks with leaves , chopped2 2celery stalk with leavescelery stalks with leaves, chopped
1 large carrot , chopped1 1large carrotcarrots, chopped
3 whole cloves 3 3whole cloves
1 onion 1 1oniononions
10 peppercorns 10 10peppercorns
1 bay leaf 1 1bay leafbay leaves
1 tsp salt 1 1tsp tspsalt
Soup:
2 celery stalks 2 2celery stalkcelery stalks
1 onion 1 1oniononions
1 large carrot 1 1large carrotcarrots
1 1can (19 oz/540 mL) can (19 oz/540 mL)tomatotomatoes, chopped (undrained)
1/2 cup parboiled long-grain rice 1/2 1/2cup cupparboiled long-grain rice
2 tbsp tomato paste 2 2tbsp tbsptomato paste

Preparation

Stock: Place chicken and all giblets except liver in stockpot or large saucepan. Pour in enough cold water to cover chicken; add celery and carrot. Stick cloves into onion; add to pot with peppercorns, bay leaf and salt. Bring to boil, skimming off foam. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until chicken is very tender and juices run clear when thigh is pierced. Let cool; refrigerate for 2 hours or until fat congeals on top.

Skim off fat and discard. Warm stock over low heat until stock liquifies. Remove chicken and reserve. Strain stock through cheesecloth-lined sieve into large bowl, pressing vegetables to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard vegetables and spices. (Stock can be made ahead and refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months.)

Soup: Dice celery, onion and carrot. Add to stock along with tomatoes, rice and tomato paste. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until rice is cooked and vegetables are tender-crisp.

Meanwhile, remove skin and bones from chicken. Reserve white meat for other use, if desired. Chop dark meat; add to soup and heat. Taste and adjust seasoning.