Recipe: Cream of Chicken Soup

I wanted to attempt making my own cream of chicken soup. I pulled together many recipes and methods and came up with one that, in the end, had a result that my family and I were more than happy with.

I used the Herb and Vegetable Chicken crock pot recipe as a starter to making a healthy stock - the kind of stock that Sally Fallon speaks of in her book Nourishing Traditions. She says, "properly prepared, meat stocks are extremely nutritious, containing the minerals of bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables as electrolytes, a form that is easy to assimilate."

Applying her steps to the cream of chicken recipe increases its nutrition and flavor and helps to create a satisfying outcome.

This recipe makes 8-10 14oz (1 & 3/4 cup) servings.

Here's the recipe:

Cream of Chicken Soup

Stock:

Large cooking pot

Vinegar

Snipped Parsley

Cook whole chicken overnight in crock pot according to the Herb and Vegetable Chicken recipe.

Unless crock pot is large enough - transfer all of the contents within the crock pot to a larger pot. Add enough water to make about 4 quarts of liquid.

Add 2 tbsps vinegar. (this part is optional. By adding vinegar it helps to draw out minerals into broth.)

Add snipped parsley and allow to simmer (with lid on) for 5-6 more hours.

After simmering time is up - simply remove all pieces with a slotted spoon. Set pieces aside. Add more water to the stock if some of it has evaporated. I added enough water to have about 12 - 14 cups worth of stock.

Keep simmering stock.

Base:

3 sticks butter

2 cups whole wheat flour

5 cups raw milk

5 egg yolks, room temp.

sea salt

Melt butter in a pan. Gradually add flour and continuously stir. Avoid letting this mixture get too dry - add more butter if necessary.

Gradually add milk, stirring continuously. The result should be a thick but slightly liquid base which will thicken your stock just right.

Add this base to your simmering stock and stir until soup thickens.

Place egg yolks in a bowl. Temper the egg yolks by adding one ladle full of thickened broth at a time. Stir eggs into broth with each ladle full of soup.

Add this egg mixture into the soup.

Mix with a hand held blender or place into upright blender to create a smooth soup.

Cut up desired amount of meat from the pieces pile and place it back into the soup.

Add desired amount of salt to the soup. (I added about 2 or 3 tsps.)

*If you'd like your soup to be thicker simply make a bit more of the base to add to your soup. Remember though - the soup will thicken more as it cools.

* * *

I placed 1 and 3/4 cup of this soup into freezer baggies. In two of those baggies I added chopped up chicken pieces taken from my "pieces" mound to be used for a quick (and healthy) Quessadilla and Chicken Divan recipe.

I made the quessadilla recipe for dinner last night with this wonderful home made cream of chicken soup and the outcome was wonderful. Everyone asked for seconds - and there was no hesitation or guilt involved in feeding them it because I knew the contents within their meal was one that their cells needed!

Photo credit: http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t--38575/cream-of-chicken-soup.asp