Cookbook Challenge #7- Soup Season Rolls On

The Cookbook Challenge brought us back to the onset of soup season. We took on the Winter Chicken Pot Pie Soup recipe from 300 Sensational Soups by Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds(CC#7). No, it's not winter yet, but this soup sounded delicious. It turned out very well and the pastry topping made for little dumplings in the soup. I did have to add water to properly immerse the chicken and that thinned out the flavor a bit, so we jacked up the salt and pepper amounts a bit. We utilized our KC Fresh Connect carrots, celery and potatoes for this recipe. The soup was quite savory and was a warming tonic for the chill in the air.


Winter Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 whole chicken or 3 lbs. chicken thighs ( we did the thighs )
1 small onion, quartered
1 carrot, quartered
1 stalk celery, quartered
6 cups chicken stock
10 whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 parsnips, sliced
1 small bulb fennel, sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 boiling potato or sweet potato, peeled or diced
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley
1 pastry sheet (we used store-bought pastry sheets...the original recipe gives a recipe to make your own Flaky Pastry, but this worked fine)
1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. In a large pot, combine chicken, quartered onion, carrot and celery, stock, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme and salt. If chicken isn't immersed, add water or stock to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Partially cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken registers 170F about 45 minutes. Skim the soup if any scum develops on the surface.

2. Using tongs, transfer chicken to a large plate and let cool. Remove skin and bones and discard. Shred the meat into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

3. Strain the stock, reserving the veggies. Skim the surface of the stock and remove fat, if desired. Cut up the vegetables and add later to the soup; set liquid and veggies aside separately. Discard the bay leaf and peppercorns.

4. Add butter to the pot and melt over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and saute until softened, about 6 minutes. Add sliced carrots, parsnips and fennel; saute until starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Add flour and saute for 2 minutes.

5. Gradully whisk in reserved stock and bring to a boil, stirring often. Cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Return chicken and reserved veggies to the pot and add potato; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until veggies are tender, about 30 minutes. Add lemon juice, cayenne and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in parsley.

6. Ladle soup into ovenproof bowls. Roll out pastry to 1/8 inch and cut rounds to fit over the bowls. Brush the edge of the bowls with the beaten egg and fit the pastry rounds on top, pinching around the edges to seal. Brush the pastry with the egg and refrigerate the soups for 20 minutes to firm up the pastry. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 F.

7. Place bowls on baking sheet and bake until pastry is browned and crispy, about 20 minutes. Carefully transfer the bowls to serving plates and serve.