Creamy Chicken Soup

Creamy Chicken Soup

I intentionally titled this post creamy chicken soup rather than cream of chicken soup, which was the original name. The first time I made it, I told the kids we were having Cream of Chicken soup for dinner. They kept waiting for me to break out the can of Campbell's. They were disappointed.

My quest for this soup started a few years ago, when Bob and I had dinner at a very well-known restaurant about 100 miles north of where we live. They served a creamy chicken soup that Bob has not forgotten. He kept wanting to drive back there, just for that soup, even though they only serve it one day a week (which turned out to not be an especially convenient day for us to go there). I figured it was far cheaper and easier just to figure out how to make it.

I started with a recipe from the Food network, and adapted it from there. It's not an especially healthy soup, but it's wonderful and comforting for special occasions. This was our Christmas Eve dinner this year (well, part of it) and it was hugely popular.

Creamy Chicken Soup
1/2 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
7 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
2-3 cups cooked, diced chicken
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 teaspoons sherry
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the flour and cook, stirring for about two minutes until well mixed.

Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Add spices and mix well. Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. Whisk the cream, sherry, and salt into the soup and season with pepper to taste. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Serve immediately.

Notes:
I've used a variety of types of chicken in this recipe. I've made it with rotisserie chicken from Costco, a fresh chicken boiled at home, and various breast and thigh pieces that I had boiled.

Boiling the chicken takes a little more work, but it gives you a lovely broth that you can use in the soup. I usually start the process the day before, cleaning out the chicken and then boiling it for about an hour. Then I store it in the fridge over night, which makes it easy to skim off a fairly healthy layer of fat before you start cooking. When I used rotisserie chicken, I made broth using chicken base, which gave the soup a little bit of a synthetic taste. Another option would be to use rotisserie chicken with canned or boxed chicken broth.

Keep in mind that your chicken/broth choice will influence the amount of salt you use. If you use chicken base, add it a little bit at a time (tasting between additions) or you'll oversalt it. If you made your own chicken broth, a tablespoon will be about right.

Oh, and if you have fresh herbs, by all means use them.

Baked Potato Soup

This is not the healthiest recipe you'll ever make. But it's luxuriously delicious, and it's not as fat-filled as it looks.

The name says it all--this soup tastes just like a loaded baked potato, primarily because it has all of the same ingredients. We tried this for the first time a few months ago, and it has quickly become a family favorite. And if you bake the potatoes ahead of time, it's a pretty quick meal as well.

I combined a couple of recipes I found online to create my own version. It serves 6 to 8 generously.

Baked Potato Soup
4 baked potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 pound bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled (reserve a couple of tablespoons for topping)
3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup flour
7 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
4 green onions, sliced thin, with a couple of tablespoons of them reserved for topping
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, grated (reserve a couple of tablespoons for topping)
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven. Whisk in the flour until completely mixed, breaking up any lumps. Slowly add the milk, stirring into the butter mixture gradually. Bring to a simmer and let cook on low for about ten minutes, until soup is thick and bubbly, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes, green onions, sour cream, salt, pepper and cheese, reserving some of the bacon, onions and cheese for topping. Cook over low heat until  well heated, about ten minutes. Sprinkle each serving with cheese, onion and bacon.

Tomato-Basil-Parmesan Soup

This recipe came to me from my friend Jennifer, who saw it in a magazine and gave it a try. She was amazed by how well it went over with her teenage boys; I was amazed at how much my family liked it, given that it has no meat in it. It's perfect for a cold night. The aroma alone makes it worth the effort.

Tomato-Basil-Parmesan Soup
2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced carrots
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup finely diced onions
1/2 bay leaf (I took a walk on the wild side and used a whole one)
1 tablespoon fresh oregano (you can substitute 1 teaspoon of dry oregano)
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped (you can substitute 1 tablespoon of dried basil, but I think you'll probably regret it)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups half and half, warmed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a large slow cooker, combine tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, bay leaf, oregano, and basil (if you're using dried herbs, add them an hour before serving instead). Cover adn cook on low for 5 to 7 hours until flavors are blended and vegetables are soft.

About an hour before serving, prepare a roux: Melt butter over low heat in a skillet and add flour; stir constantly with a whisk for 5 to 7 minutes. Slowly stir in 1 cup of hot soup from the slow cooker. Add another 3 cups of soup and stir until smooth.

Add the soup and flour mixture back into the slow cooker. Stir and add parmesan cheese, warmed half and half, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for another hour until ready to serve.

This recipe has an amazing combination of flavors. Some of the kids were a little freaked out by the chunks of vegetables, though. I tried an experiment with the leftovers that made the soup more elegant: I pureed everything in the blender until it was smooth and creamy. It made for a lovely soup:

Split Pea and Ham Soup

I hated split pea soup as a kid. Or I hated the idea of it. The only place I actually saw it was in the school cafeteria where it looked like something that was fairly unappetizing. It was canned. Overcooked. Pureed to death. Ugly.

As an adult, I find split pea soup comforting. It's a perfect way to use leftover ham. And while you have to start a little in advance, it's simple to put together.

I've discovered two keys to making this soup delicious instead of disgusting. First, don't cook it too long. Most recipes will tell you to leave it in the crock pot all day. Don't believe them. Four or five hours cooking on low will be plenty of time for the peas to soften. Add the vegetables even later than that, maybe one or two hours before you plan to serve the soup. Otherwise you'll get mush. I also like to add a cup or so of small diced ham a half hour or so before it's done for a little extra flavor.

Second, be sure there is enough liquid in the soup. Dry split pea soup has a heavy, mud-like texture that is hard to choke down. Well hydrated soup is a joy to eat. Trust me.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

9 cups water
1 (16 ounce) package dried split peas, rinsed and sorted (2-1/4 Cups)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 inch slices (1-1/2 Cups)
2 stalks celery, finely chopped (1 Cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 ham bone or 2 lbs ham shanks or smoked pork hocks

Mix peas, ham bone and water in a five quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until peas are starting to become tender. Add vegetables an hour or two before the soup is done. When the peas are soft, remove the ham bone and pull any cooked ham away from the bone. Add it back into the soup and serve.

The Cook Book Challenge/Super Hamburger Soup

We have a problem at our house. We are addicted to cook books. We have a special place in our kitchen for our cook book library, but it is overflowing. We have already weeded out the duplicates--cookbooks that Bob and I both had copies of when we married. But we've slowly acquired enough that there's no more room in the cook book cupboard.

You see what I mean. Some of these cookbooks have never actually been used; others have not been used for a very long time. Our challenge for the next year (or two): weed out the collection by trying recipes from each and every one of them. Those that have at least one worthwhile recipe will be kept; others will be tossed (or more likely, given away).

The first candidate is Lion House Recipes Lite by Melba Davis, published in 1996. The Lion House is a cafeteria-style comfort food restaurant in Salt Lake City. It has nostalgic value for a lot of locals, and also is known for the quality of its homestyle food. I think my sister gave me this cook book several years ago as a gift--it's a copy signed by the author, even. But it's been severely underutilized in our house.

This book may be out of print, but there are a number of copies available on Amazon for as little as $2.98 plus shipping. I tried the Super Hamburger Soup because it sounded hearty but healthy, and also because it used ingredients that we had on hand. There are a number of other recipes that I marked to try in upcoming weeks, though. So I think this book is already a keeper.

We all agreed that the soup was good, but not destined to become a family favorite. The hamburger made it a little boring. But it was delicious on a cold night and filled everyone up--not always easy to do on soup night.

Super Hamburger Soup

1 1/2 pounds extra-lean ground beef

2 onions, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 cans (14.5 ounces) chopeed stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste

4 cups water (I substituted beef broth because I was afraid the soup wouldn't be flavorful enough)

4 medium carrots, sliced

2 large potatoes, diced

1 can (16 ounces) corn, undrained (I substituted two cups of frozen corn)

1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, undrained

1 can (15 ounces) baby lima beans or garbanzos, undrained

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 zucchini, sliced

Cook ground beef, onions, celery, and green pepper in a large pot until meat is brown and crumbly and onion is translucent. Drain. Add tomatoes with liquid, tomato paste, water, carrots, potatoes, corn, kidney beans, lima beans or garbanzos, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 20 minutes. Add zucchini and cook another 10 to 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Makes 12 servings.

The recipe encouraged experimentation with herbs such as basil, marjoram, thyme and bay leaves in order to add more flavor; I added a little bit of each of them (well, actually quite a lot of basil), and it made for a richer soup.

Now on to the cook book challenge!

White Chili with Chicken

This year I was asked to be a judge for our local high school's faculty cook off. Like many organizations, the school found itself short on Christmas party budget and turned the potluck into a fun event by making it a contest. Teachers and administrators were invited to bring chili and pies. I should note that I got the job because of the volunteer work I do at the school, not because of my culinary expertise.

One of the other judges told me that white chilis are especially good. Two different pots were entered in the contest, and they were both excellent. I liked them enough that I searched out a recipe to try it at home. This one isn't exactly like my favorite at the party, but it was very good and was a big hit with the kids. I started with a recipe from Betty Crocker's More Slow Cooker Recipes and adapted based on some online versions.

White Chili with Chicken
1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, cut into strips
1 cup dried great northern beans, sorted and rinsed
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup
5 cups water
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can (4.5 ounces) chopped green chiles, undrained
1/2 cup frozen corn

Mix chicken, beans, onion, garlic, oregano, salt, soup and water in 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours or until beans are tender and chicken is no longer pink in the center.

Just before serving, stir in cumin, chiles and corn. Serve with corn chips and top with grated colby jack cheese.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

This recipe was promoted on CDKitchen as a Panera Bread knock off. I've only eaten Panera Bread broccoli cheese soup once (we don't have one locally, so I usually only eat there when I'm traveling for work, which isn't all that often anymore). I remember it being good, but don't remember it well enough to judge how close this recipe comes. We like it, though. It's a fairly quick meal and great on a winter evening. This recipe makes four servings, so I double it and then a little.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1/2 pound fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots, julienned
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

Saute onion in 1 Tablespoon of butter. Set aside. Combine 1/4 cup melted butter and flour using a whisk; stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until well mixed. Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half (this is called making a roux, or thickening base for the soup). Add the chicken stock whisking all the time. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper. The soup should be thick by now. Pour in batches into the blender and puree. We like to leave some of the broccoli and carrots a little bit chunky. Return pureed mixture to the pot ovre low heat and add the cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in the nutmeg and serve.

Taco Soup - The Easiest Soup I Know How to Make

This recipe came from a former neighbor who is a wonderful cook. I asked her for a copy of her bread recipe, and she printed off several pages of her personal cook book. This is a tasty soup; although it's not our family's favorite, it's a great quick meal that is done in minutes.

Taco Soup
1 pound ground beef, browned
1 large onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons taco seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 15-oz. cans of beans (pinto, kidney, etc.)
2 15- oz. cans of corn or three cups of frozen corn
1 small can green chilis
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes

Combine all ingredients and simmer 20-30 minutes or until flavors blend. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and crumbled tortilla chips.

Fabulous Minestrone

We're almost at the end of soup season. We try to eat soup once a week in the winter, and then switch to salads of varying kinds in the summer. Last night marked the transition; we ate Mexican chicken salads (post to come later), and tonight we finished off the winter with a lovely minestrone.

I can't promise we won't eat soup again until the snow falls. We love soup. I should also qualify that this is one of the few soups I make that not everyone in our family loves. But those of us who love it are quite serious in our passion, so we make the others eat it on occasion.

This recipe originally came from my sister. I've made it for years. I don't know where she got it. It says to cook slowly for six hours. A crock pot works well for this. I hardly ever cook it for the full six hours. An hour or two on the stove top seems to work fine; turn up the heat if you've got less time!



Minestrone
1 1-lb. package Jimmy Dean gold label sausage
1 quart water
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
3 large carrots, sliced or cubed
4 stalks chopped celery
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans beef consomme
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 clove minced garlic

Brown sausage in a large soup pot and drain well. Return meat to pot. Add other ingredients. cook slowly for six hours. Add the following ingredients:

1 can green beans drained
1 cup macaroni
1 can red kidney beans, undrained

Cook at a rapid boil until macaroni is done (about fifteen minutes). Add salt and/or sugar to taste. Serves 6-8

You Won't Believe What You Can Find on the Internet

A few months ago Bob and I were able to sneak out of the house for a late night dinner.
One of our favorite late-night spots is Mimi's cafe. It's simple comfort food. On this particular night, we sampled their corn chowder (usually we opt for their French Onion soup, which is also very good). "This is good," Bob said. "You should see if you can find a knock-off recipe on the internet.

We have been truly amazed at what we can reverse engineer from our favorite restaurants. We could guess many of the corn chowder ingredients just by looking closely--corn (obviously), celery, cream, potatoes, onions as. When we got home, I googled Mimi's corn chowder.

And guess what? The first link referenced was Mimi's own website. We couldn't believe it was so easy.

This has become a family favorite. As I've made it a number of times, I've modified the ingredients (slightly) and the cooking method (quite a bit) from the official version. When I make it this way, it almost always comes out the perfect consistency--not to thick, not too thin.

Mimi's Corn Chowder (Modified by Kathy)
Yields 2 1/2 quarts (This is enough for a normal family. I double it for our gang).
4 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/2 cup onion, chopped
3/4 cup celery, large dice
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups hot water
2 cups raw potato, peeled and cut in 1/2" cubes
1 quart half and half
3 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 pinch white pepper

Melt butter in a large pot. Add onion and celery. Saute until onion is translucent. Add flour; mix until ingredients make a roux, like this:



When flour is absorbed into butter, add half and half gradually, mixing as you add it. Simmer soup for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. The soup should thicken a bit as you cook it.

Add hot water and potato. Bring to a boil. Add corn and remaining seasonings; simmer for ten to fifteen minutes until the potatoes are slightly soft. If the soup is too thick, add a little milk. If it's too thin, cook it five to ten minutes longer.

The finished product: