Variations of chicken soup?

Question

The Grocery store where I live often has really nice, fresh whole chicken. I normally make chicken soup with it, boiling the chicken with potatoes ,carrots and leek. Sometimes I add some noodles to the soup.Do you have any suggestions for variations for the chicken soup? Or does anyone know any other dish I could make with the whole chicken. I don't have an oven or grill so it must be a stove top recipe.

Answer 1

How about chicken and dumplings?

1 (2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon House Seasoning, recipe follows*
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of celery or cream of chicken soup

Dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Ice water

To start the chicken: Place the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, and House Seasoning in a large pot. Add 4 quarts of water and in water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer the chicken until it is tender and the thigh juices run clear, about 40 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and, when it is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and separate the meat from the bones. Return the chicken meat to the pot. Keep warm over low heat.

To prepare the dumplings: Mix the flour with the salt and mound together in a mixing bowl. Beginning at the center of the mound, drizzle a small amount of ice water over the flour. Using your fingers, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate about 3/4 cup of ice water. Knead the dough and form it into ball.

Dust a good amount of flour onto a clean work surface. Roll out the dough (it will be firm), working from center to 1/8-inch thick. Let the dough relax for several minutes.

Add the cream of celery soup to the pot with the chicken and simmer gently over medium-low heat.

Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces. Pull a piece in half and drop the halves into the simmering soup. Repeat. Do not stir the chicken once the dumplings have been added. Gently move the pot in a circular motion so the dumplings become submerged and cook evenly. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy, 3 to 4 minutes.

*House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Answer 2

There are 2-3 dishes that are my favs. Chicken Tacos is #1. My family has been doing this for many many years. Anyway, I boil my chicken with some celery, carrots and onions along with some poultry seasoning mix. If you have Thyme, sage, salt, pepper,and whatever spices you like, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for about an hour. Alow chicken to cool and remove skin and bones. Shred (you know take two forks and pull the meat apart) about 4 cups worth of the chicken and put in large sauce pan. I use two packages of Old El Paso Taco seasoning mix sprinkled over chicken and then use about 1 1/3 cups of the broth Stir it up so the seasoning mix disolves and simmer uncovered for maybe 10-15 min until liquid is reduced. Fill taco shells with this treat and add lettuce, cheese etc. You can use this on burrittos too. The #2 fav is my Creamy Chicken Noodle and Mushroom Soup. You can make this with what ever chicken you didn't shred from above. I start with a simple white sauce. Equal amounts of butter (melted) and flour, about 2tbl each and a 50/50 mix of milk and chicken broth about 2 cups. bring to a slow boil. Add noodles (I use linguini - what I can grab between my thumb and 1st finger, broken into about 2inch pieces) and continue to boil until noodles are white. You will need to keep stirring so the noodles don't stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point you can add more milk or broth if the soup is too thick. Cut up chicken into bite sized pieces and add to soup. Also add 1 sm can mushrooms (drained). Reduce heat to simmer for 5-10 min and enjoy.
Last but not least is #3 Chicken Salad. The receipe above sounds good but I usually add diced dill pickles instead of the celery. If I really want to be different I'll include the celery plus a couple of handfuls of halved red grapes. Hope this wasn't too long. Now that I'm hungry I need to go to the store and get some chicken.

Answer 3

Both recipies above this are good ones especially the chicken and dumplings. I have that one and use it alot.

For variety you can add almost any vegetables you have on hand or rice instead of noodles or potatoes.

Another great use for chicken cooked this way is chicken salad. Simply cut up some of the cooked chicken and mix it with some diced onions and celery. Add a little mayonaise salt and pepper.

If you like spicy food try green chile chicken burritos. Cook the chicken as you would for soup, and clean and return to the broth after simmering the broth to reduce a bit. Add a couple cloves of garlic chopped and a container (about a pint) of frozen green chile if you can get it. Canned will work and is more readily available but frozen is better. I add a can of cream of chicken soup to thicken but some flour and cream will do the same thing.
Warm a flour tortilla by placing in a hot dry frying pan (no oil or water). Place the tortilla on a plate. Using a slotted spoon put some chicken inside the tortilla and roll up. Cover the top of rolled tortilla with shredded cheddar or monterrey jack cheese. Using a ladle cover the burrito with the green chile sauce. If you like sour cream a dollup on top and you are ready to indulge in a taste treat!

A day or two later you can try huevos rancheros for breakfast. Cook an egg or two your favorite way and sprinkle some cheese over then top with some of your green chile chicken and sauce. Serve with another hot tortilla.

We are having the huevos rancheros for breakfast. I hope you enjoy these recipies as much as we do.

Answer 4

The cloves used to make the chicken stock give this simple, pure soup a subtle sweet undertone.

Ingredients
10 cup water
4 celery stalks, each cut into 3 pieces
4 flat-leaf parsley sprigs
2 medium carrots, each cut into 3 pieces
2 large garlic cloves
2 cloves
1 medium leek, trimmed and cut into 3 pieces
1 bay leaf
1 (3-pound) chicken
3 tablespoons uncooked pastina (tiny star-shaped pasta)
2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) grated fresh Romano cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
1 egg white


Preparation
Combine first 9 ingredients in an 8-quart Dutch oven or stockpot; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours. Remove from heat.
Remove chicken and carrot from broth. Place chicken in a bowl; cover and chill. Dice carrot; cover and chill. Strain broth through a sieve into a large bowl; discard solids. Cover and chill broth at least 24 hours. Skim solidified fat from surface, and discard. Set aside 8 cups broth, reserving remaining broth for another use. Remove chicken from bones; cut into bite-size pieces. Discard bones.

Combine chicken, carrot, and 8 cups broth in Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Add pastina, Romano cheese, salt, and pepper; cook 5 minutes.

Combine egg and egg white; stir well, and slowly drizzle into boiling broth mixture, stirring constantly. Immediately remove from heat.

Yield
9 cups (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 131(32% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 1.6g,mono 1.7g,poly 0.9g); PROTEIN 15.5g; CHOLESTEROL 76mg; CALCIUM 50mg; SODIUM 490mg; FIBER 1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 5.9g

Answer 5

Get tons of ideas from a recipe search... just enter chicken and other things you like or that you have on hand and it comes up with a variety of recipes. Two links to recipe searches... at the research section of new free books. I think the second one will work best for you.

Answer 6

try adding gnocchi to it...yumm-o