Chicken Soup Molyvos Recipes

Steps:

• Rinse chicken well inside and out with cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Season inside and out with salt and pepper.
• Put chicken stock in a large pot, and bring to a boil, covered, over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cheesecloth sachet. (If the chicken is not totally covered by the stock, cut it in half through the backbone). Return the stock to a boil, uncovered, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook the chicken, skimming frequently, about 45 minutes, or until it is so tender the meat begins to pull away from the leg bone.
• Remove chicken to a platter, and reserve chicken broth. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin. Remove meat and discard bones. Cut meat into bite-size pieces, and reserve.
• Strain chicken broth into a large saucepan, and discard the sachet. (Soup can be refrigerated at this point and finished right before serving.) Remove 1 cup broth to a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Prepare avgolemono using this cup of broth.
• Bring the rest of the soup to a boil, and add the reserved chicken pieces. Keep hot over a low flame.
• Put the avgolemono in a stainless steel bowl, and gradually add a few ladles of the hot chicken soup, whisking constantly. When thoroughly combined, slowly pour the avgolemono into the soup, whisking continously. Stir in the dill, and add salt and pepper if desired.
• To serve, ladle the soup into warm bowls, and sprinkle each with equal amounts of shredded lettuce and scallions.

Steps:

• Place the chicken, celery, carrots, onions, parsnip (if using), parsley, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt in a large soup pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to very low. Adjust the heat until the soup is "smiling": barely moving on the surface, with an occasional bubble breaking through. Cook uncovered, until the chicken is very tender and falling off the bone, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• When cool enough to handle, use tongs to transfer chicken from the pot to a container. Taste the broth and continue to simmer it until it is concentrated and tasty. Strain broth through a fine sieve (or a colander lined with cheesecloth) into a separate container. Discard all the solids from the strainer (or reserve the vegetables, chill and serve with vinaigrette, if you wish).
• Refrigerate chicken pieces and broth separately for at least 8 hours (or up to 3 days), until a thick layer of yellow fat has risen to the top of the broth.
• When ready to finish the soup, use your fingers to separate chicken breast meat from bones and skin. Discard bones and skin. Use two forks to pull the breast meat apart into soft chunks, or use a knife and cut into bite-size pieces. (Reserve dark meat for another use.)
• Skim chicken fat from top of broth and set aside. Place 3 tablespoons of the fat in a soup pot with a lid. Add leeks, stir to coat, and heat over medium heat until leeks begin to fry. Then reduce the heat to a gentle sizzle and cook, stirring often, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
• Add carrots, sprinkle with salt, stir, and cover the pot. Cook until vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes more. (Keep in mind that vegetables will continue to cook in the soup.) Do not brown.
• Pour broth into pot with vegetables and heat to a simmer. Add noodles and simmer until heated through, soft and plumped with chicken broth. Add the breast meat, then taste broth and add salt and pepper to taste. For best flavor, soup should have some golden droplets of fat on top; if needed, add more chicken fat one teaspoon at a time.
• Serve immediately, in a tureen or from the pot, sprinkling each serving with herbs.

Steps:

• In a stainless steel bowl, whip the egg yolks with a pinch of salt.
• In a separate stainless steel bowl fitted for a double boiler, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until fluffy. Fold the yolks into the whites, blending well.
• Bring a saucepan or the bottom of a double boiler filled with water to a simmer.
• In a small bowl, blend the cornstarch into the lemon juice and whisk into the egg mixture. Put the bowl over the pot of simmering water, whisking constantly. In about 4 minutes, the mixture will lighten in color and the sauce will thicken. Gradually add the reserved cup of hot chicken stock to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking and whisking 2 minutes longer, until the avgolemono thickens. Keep warm if necessary in the double boiler, off the heat. Add to the chicken soup right before serving.