Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe
Chicken and rice soup ladled over an extra spoonful of rice.
It’s soup time of year again (read: cooler and wet though not cold as per up north) and I’ve had a taste for chicken and rice soup and thus put this recipe together. The idea for searing the chicken before putting it into the pot came from a CIA cookbook that I was thumbing through not long ago. I hadn’t seen any recipes previously that do so, but I figured it was worth a try. It seemed to add a little extra flavor due in part to the “flavor bits” that adhere to the bottom of the pan while searing.
This soup was extremely popular around the dinner table. Both of my kids ate it and enjoyed it. I plan to take the leftovers with me to work tomorrow for lunch.
The flavor is “chicken-y” without tasting like the processed, preservative laden, salt-lick soup like liquid that comes in a can.
I continue to find the chicken soups with this style of stock making easy and incredibly flavorful.
Chicken Rice Soup
To make the stock:
- 1 3-4 lb. chicken, cut into several pieces
- approx. 1/3 C good quality olive oil
- 1 large onion, rough chopped
- 1 large carrot, cut into thirds
- 3 stalks of celery, cut in half
- 2 bay leaves
- approx. 12 C cold water
- To add to stock:
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 small carrot, diced
- 3 ears fresh corn, removed from the cob
- 1 – 2 cups of cooked long grain rice, cooked on stove top, al dente
- salt and pepper, to taste
Rinse and pat dry chicken. Cut into 6-8 pieces. (I generally keep the breast intact in order to be able to debone it more easily after it’s cooked). Add olive oil to the pan in which the stock will be cooked.
Sear each piece of chicken in olive oil. Remove and set aside.
Add rough chopped celery, carrot and onion to the still hot pan.
Saute’ until the vegetables begin to soften. Add bay leaves.
Return seared chicken to the pan on top of the vegetables.
Completely cover the chicken and vegetables with water. Stir to insure that vegetables and chicken move freely. Allow water to warm and then turn the heat to simmer – do not boil.
Allow chicken and vegetables to simmer, uncovered, for 90 minutes.
Skim periodically.
Remove cooked chicken from the pan and allow to cool.
Ladle stock from pot into strainer to eliminate all large pieces of vegetable matter. Discard cooked vegetables and any remaining “sludge” from the pan.
8 –10 Cups of stock will be present.
Wipe out, but do not rinse cooking pot.
Return cooking pot to stove. Pour stock through cheese cloth. Keep stock at lowest possible heat setting.
Prepare, rinse, and cut 3 cobs of fresh corn.
Debone chicken, cut into cubes.
Large dice carrots and celery.
Return diced chicken, corn, carrots and celery to the stock. Heat thoroughly and until the vegetables begin to soften. Add cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Note: slightly under cooking the vegetables and rice keeps the soup from getting mushy.
Serve with crusty bread or whole grain crackers.
For those who like even more rice in their soup (as my daughter and I do), add rice to the bowl and ladle soup over rice. See the very first photo.
Ken: A Denise: A
Enjoy!