Ingredients
For the soup:
1 chicken, giblets and large pieces of fat removed
10 1/2 cups water
2-3 stalks parsley, plus extra, minced, for garnish
1 large onion, cut into quarters
2 large carrots, peeled  and roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 large sprig thyme
6 peppercorns
1 slice lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rice

For the egg sauce:
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions
1. Place chicken in large Dutch oven.  Add water, parsley, onion, carrots, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, lemon slice, and salt.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 70 minutes.  Remove from heat, remove chicken from pot, and cool 30 minutes. 

2. Skim fat off stock, then strain stock into a big bowl through a mesh strainer.  Discard flavorings. 

3. Remove meat from chicken and shred into small pieces. 

4. Return 8 1/2 cups strained stock to Dutch oven, discard remaining stock or save to use for another purpose.  Add rice.  Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, or until rice is cooked. 

5. In the meantime, beat together eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice in large bowl.  Beat until well combined and slightly frothy. 

6. Return chicken pieces to Dutch oven and simmer 5 minutes.  Remove pot from heat. 

7. Working 1/2 cup at a time, add soup to egg mixture and whisk gently with fork.  Repeat this 4 to 6 times to temper the eggs.  Pour egg mixture into soup and stir well.  The residual heat from the Dutch oven will be enough to gently cook eggs and keep them from setting. 

8. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley, if desired. 

Note: When heating leftovers, do so over low heat on the stovetop or very slowly in the microwave.  I found that microwaving leftovers for a minute at a time, and stirring the soup well in between, worked perfectly. 



Comments
This recipe is from Scrumptious South Africa and it’s been sitting in my “to make” pile for quite a while.  I’ve been waiting for the right chicken to come along.  When I finally did get to make this, it was when I wasn’t feeling especially well, and it was fantastic!  The soup looks like it should be heavy and cream-based, but it is surprisingly light and amazing.  It felt perfect on my sore throat and all the flavors stood out well.  In texture, it was almost like the congee I’ve had in the past.  I really loved this soup and I’d love to make it again in the near future.  Sadly, we’re not really soup people most of the time, but I’m happy to make an exception for this exceptional soup!

Shown here with Art's Bruschetta.

Ingredients
Soup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut into 1/4-inch thick moons
Salt
2 cups water plus extra for deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons
1 baguette, cut on bias into 1/2-inch slices
8 ounces gruyere cheese, shredded

Instructions
1. For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400*F. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Onions will just about fill the Dutch oven. 

2. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

3. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjust heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.) Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes. (I deglazed four times for a total of 1 cup of water.)

4. Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

5. For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400*F oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

6. To serve: Place oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with gruyere. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. 



Comments
I really love French Onion Soup.  If I see it on a menu and it’s not super hot outside, I’m likely to order it.  However, I’ve never made it myself because no one else in the house likes it the way I do.  With all of the snow we’ve been getting, I decided that there was no better time to make my own French Onion Soup than this week – especially since I’d just seen a recipe for it in the 2008 Cook's Illustrated Annual.  There were a couple parts of the recipe that I was unsure about, but I followed it to the letter since it’s something I’ve never made before. 

This soup was pretty fantastic.  The multiple deglazings of the onions really yielded a deep, rich flavor to the soup.  That part of the recipe is definitely a keeper for next time. 

Even if the Test Kitchen prefers the taste of sherry to other alcohols for this soup, I’m not sure that I do.  Next time, I’d try using red wine instead, which has been my preference in the French Onion-style casseroles I’ve made in the past. 

I was unsure about the blend of beef and chicken broths, but it worked quite well and the flavor of the broth part was lovely.  However, I think I’d try all beef broth next time, just to see how that works. 

I’d also like the soup to be more… velvety.  Next time I’ll either try adding some flour after all the deglazing or I’ll simmer the soup for longer and remove the lid in step 4. 

Since I was only serving myself soup, I used the toaster oven for the croutons and the final broiling.  This worked very well for a single serving.  The first bowl of soup I made, shown here in a gorgeous crock that our best friend Brian gave us one year, had cheese only on top of the crouton.  For the second bowl I split the cheese and put a bit under the crouton and a bit on top of it.  I think I like the way the second bowl turned out better because the crouton wasn’t completely covered with cheese which let it crisp up a little more during the final broiling. 

I will definitely be making, and tweaking, this again.  It’s a great starting point for my experimentation in French Onion Soup.

Ingredients
12 ounces center-cut bacon, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (Omit if you desire a milder chili.)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (Omit if you desire a milder chili.)
2 pounds ground beef
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
Salt

Instructions
1. Fry the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned, about 8 minutes. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat, leaving the bacon in the pot.

2. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, oregano, and cayenne and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add half the beef. Cook, breaking up the chunks with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink and beginning to brown. Add the remaining beef and cook, breaking up the chunks with the wooden spoon, until no longer pink.

3. Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove the cover and continue to simmer 1 hour longer, stirring occasionally (if the chili brings to stick to the bottom of the pot, stir in 1/2 cup water and continue to simmer), until the beef is tender and the chili is dark, rick, and slightly thickened. Stir in maple syrup.  Adjust the seasoning with additional salt to taste. Serve with desired condiments. 

Suggested condiments: diced fresh tomatoes, diced avocado tossed with lime juice, sliced green onions, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro leaves, sour cream, and shredded cheese. 



Comments
I have a confession.  I’ve never made a real meat chili before.  I have made vegetarian chilis, but meat chili has always been Art’s domain.  However, Art’s methods are not replicable and I wanted to find a chili method that I could blog about as well as enjoy.  I scoured a few cookbooks and found this recipe in The New Best Recipe.  I made a few minor adjustments, like the addition of maple syrup, and wished I had omitted the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper as well.  It was just a tidge too spicy for my tastes, even with a nice dollop of sour cream! 

Those things being said, this was a fantastic chili.  Even Art approved and he’s picky when it comes to his chili.  The bacon added lovely smokiness, the ground beef was great for the major meat component.  I’m not a huge fan of kidney beans so the black beans were a fantastic change.  I was very pleased with the result of this recipe and I think I’ll enjoy making minor modifications in the future.  I could envision doubling the recipe and adding in an additional meat for more texture (like flank steak) and probably lentils or garbanzo beans as well. 

Shown here with the absolute best Skillet Cornbread.

Ingredients
For the stew
5 cups chicken broth
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons all purpose flour
3/4 cup dry sherry
1/3 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

For the dumplings
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups half and half

Instructions
1. For the stew: Bring broth to simmer in Dutch oven over high heat. Add chicken and return to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate and tent loosely with foil. Transfer broth to large bowl.

2. Return empty Dutch oven to medium-high heat and melt butter. Add carrots, onion, and salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Stir in sherry, scrapping up browned bits. Stir in reserved broth, half and half, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until stew thickens, about 20-30 minutes.

3. For the dumplings: Stir flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Stir in half and half until incorporated (dough will be very thick and shaggy).

4. To finish: Discard bay leaves and return stew to rapid simmer. Shred reserved chicken and add to stew along with any accumulated juices, peas, and 3 tablespoons parsley. using 2 large soup spoons or small ice cream scoop, drop golf ball-sized dumplings onto stew about 1/4 inch apart (you should have 16 to 18 dumplings). Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve. 



Comments
Chicken and Dumplings is one of those foods that I’ve managed to live 32 years without ever having.  When I saw this recipe in the 2007 Cook's Country Annual, I decided that I should rectify that and give it a go.  I didn’t have very high expectations; I’ve heard horror stories of heavy and unappetizing dumplings.  Art also had some wariness due to poor experiences in the past. 

But I put aside my fears and I am so glad I did!  The dumplings were delicious balls of perfection, the soup was thick, rich, and full of flavor, and the two combined was just great!  This is a perfect cold weather meal and came together in under an hour.  I will definitely be making this again especially considering both the guys enjoyed it as well!  Yum.