Saturday, February 19, 2011

Ron's Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup


Have you ever had really good chicken soup?  I mean really, really, good chicken soup. The kind that tastes so good that you just know that in addition to having incredible taste, it has healing properties too?

Yeah, I haven't either I don't think.  Let's face it, we rarely get Grandma's homemade chicken soup anymore.

But, thanks to a Pressure Cooker, and my throwback recipe, I think you might truly love this soup. I sure did, and so did all who tested it for me.

This all started when I bought a whole roasted chicken at the Supermarket. But after having chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner for a couple of nights, I tired of chicken for dinner.

I didn't want to waste the chicken carcass, and never having made homemade chicken soup before, I thought this would be the ideal time to try.

Give it a shot. It sure got rave reviews.

If you're not a Pressure Cooker person, that's fine. Just add all the ingredients into a heavy sauce pan, or Dutch Oven, and simmer for 3 hours Do NOT add the carrots and celery until the last 60 minutes of roasting/cooking time.. If using a Crock Pot, give it 6 hours (vegetables included).

Ingredients and Method:

Chicken Carcass
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Herbs de Provence (or your own selection of herbs)
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 32 oz carton chicken broth
3 carrots, washed and sliced
2 stalks celery, washed and sliced
3 cups water
3/4 cup rice
2 teaspoons ground pepper
Salt to taste
Parsley for garnish

Heat pressure cooker over medium heat with olive oil.  Add diced onions, celery, and carrots and saute until onions are translucent. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds more until fragrant. Add bouillon cubes, chicken broth, water, rice, herbs,  and chicken carcass.  Yeah, just dump the whole carcass right in.

Cover the pressure cooker, bring up to pressure on medium high heat until it begins to steam constantly, turn to medium low, and let cook for 15 minutes.

Let pressure release normally. Open cooker, and remove carcass, and all bones, and all chicken. Separate remaining chicken from the bones and chop into bite size pieces. Return chicken to pot and stir.  Salt and pepper soup to taste.


Enjoy!