Chicken Soup & More........

All I wanted was some good, nourishing hot chicken soup. I caught a bug from my grandson, Nico, that went straight to my lungs. I felt awful & developed a deep, hacking cough. Not in the mood to cook, I went to Trader Joes and bought a container of organic chicken broth. Feh! Not only didn’t it taste like chicken soup, it was revolting.

TJ’s politely took it back, and I used the credit toward the purchase of a whole “natural” chicken. I already had onion, celery & carrots in the fridge, so I cooked it all up in a big pot, with some cilantro and bay leaf. When it was done I removed the chicken, strained out the veggies, and refrigerated the remaining broth overnight so I could remove the fat.

But what to do with the remaining chicken & veggies; more than I could eat in two weeks. After considering what ingredients I had on hand, I came up with chicken pot pie, and this is what I did:

Took a sheet of puff pastry out of the freezer to thaw while I skinned, deboned and cut up the chicken, which I combined with the vegetables. Boiled a half bottle of left-over white wine with some sage leaves, made a roux with butter and flour, added the reduced wine, a small bottle of cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg. I divided the chicken vegetable mixture into two pie plates and poured the sauce in. Rolled out the pastry & covered the pies, scored them & beat an egg to brush over the crust.

I can’t throw anything away, so I rolled out the left over pastry, sprinkled it with brown sugar and cinnamon & cut it into strips. I baked these on a piece of tin foil while I finished preparing the pies.

I had some sauce left over too, so I steamed up a bunch of broccoli and dropped it into the sauce, and then contemplated the raw, beaten up egg remaining in the small bowl. I added chicken broth to it, mixed it well, & stuck it in the microwave to make myself a lovely bowl of chicken egg-drop soup.

The little puff pastries made a fine dessert after my tangy, creamy broccoli supper, while the chicken pot pies baked happily in the oven. They’re now in my freezer, awaiting the next visit of Nico, who I know will love them.

And I finally got my lovely, delicious chicken broth which has done wonders for my cough.