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Chicken Noodle Soup New Orleans Style - Yield: 6 servings
1 lg whole fryer
1 c onions; diced
1/2 c celery; diced
1/2 c parsley; minced
4 Garlic clove; garlic
1 c carrots; chopped
3 bay leaves
1 ts poultry seasoning
4 qt Water
12 oz broad egg noodles
2 T butter
1 c onion rings; sliced
1 c mushrooms; sliced
1 c carrots; diced
1/4 c cream sherry
salt & pepper; to taste
Scallions; for garnish
First, take the chicken and wash it thoroughly -- that means both inside and out! Remove the giblets, scrub out the internal cavity under cold running water, and scrape away anything that doesn't look edible. (But DO NOT remove the chicken skin or any of the fat! You need the skin to make a rich stock.) Next, take a crock pot and place the chicken and giblets into it. Then drop in the diced onions, the 1/2 c of celery, the 1/2 c of minced parsley, the garlic, chopped carrots and bay leaves, poultry seasoning and *2* quarts of water. Then, with a spoon, evenly distribute the seasoning mixture around the chicken, turn the crock pot to high, and cook for at least six hours (or better still, OVERNIGHT). Remember, the longer you cook, the richer the base stock and the more tender the chicken. While the chicken is slow-cooking, it's a good time to prepare your noodles. Go ahead and boil them according to package directions... but DO NOT COOK THEM UNTIL DONE! Keep in mind that you're going to drop them into a soup, so you want them el dente (firm), otherwise they'll turn to pure mush by the time you eat them. Furthermore, you want a small percent of the starch in the noodles to cook into the soup to thicken it slightly -- if you cook the noodles all the way, the soup's consistency will be flat and thin. After the noodles are cooked, butter them slightly and set them aside. When the chicken is tender, take a set of tongs or a strainer spoon, remove it from the crock pot (it may tend to fall apart, but that's okay), and set it on a platter to cool. At this point, strain out all the seasoning vegetables from the stock, place the stock into a metal bowl, and place the bowl into the refrigerator or freezer until the chicken fat congeals (which should take about 1 hour). Meanwhile, pick the chicken off the bones and, with a sharp knife, chop it into bit-sized pieces. Then, in a heavy 12-inch skillet, melt the butter and saute the sliced onions, mushrooms, and carrots until they're tender. Then drop in the chopped chicken meat. And over medium-low heat, cook it into the vegetables for about 10 minutes. While the chicken and vegetables are sauteeing, remove the chicken stock from the refrigerator, skim off all the fat, and place the skimmed stock into a soup pot, along with the remaining 2 quarts of water. At this point, you should season the soup stock to taste with salt and pepper. Now drop in the sauteed chicken, mushrooms, onion rings and diced carrots -- along with the sherry, the Tabasco*, and as soon as it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer the soup for about 30 minutes to allow all the flavors to thoroughly blend. When you're ready to eat, ladle out heaping helpings of the piping hot soup into bowls, garnish with a sprinkling of thinly sliced green onions, and serve with crunch saltines.
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Crockpot Chili Verde - Yield: 6 servings
1 Onion; coarsely chopped
1 Bell pepper, green; coarsely chopped
4 Garlic clove; minced
1 T Olive oil
4 oz Green chile, canned diced
1 Jalapeno; diced (opt)
7 Tomatillo
2 lb Pork, lean; trimmed & cubed
2 ts Oregano
2 ts Sage
1 ts Cumin
1 ts Red pepper flakes
1/2 c Beer
First, saute one onion and one green pepper, coarsely chopped with three or four cloves of garlic, minced, in olive oil. Throw into the crockpot. Also throw in a small can of diced green chiles. Depending on your propensity for spicy food, you may add from one to three jalapenos, sliced. Then, throw some tomatillos in the pot. How many? Well, when I got fresh ones in San Diego, I'd get seven or eight. Peel off the husk and coarsely chop. Now that I've moved to Pittsburgh (don't ask me why), I've had to use canned ones on occasion. How many? Well, I don't really remember, it was one medium-sized can, I think. Pay attention: I mean tomatillos, not green tomatoes. The Frugal Gourmet substituted celery and tomatoes. I haven't forgiven him yet. Take about 2 pounds of lean pork (I trim off all the excess fat I can), cubed, and brown in the pan that you sauteed the onion, etc. in. Into the pot. Now, the seasoning mixture. I prefer to grind up in my mortar oregano, some dried red chile peppers, sage, and cumin seed. Perhaps also some black pepper. I almost never put salt in anything, so I probably wouldn't here either, but you may want to. How much? Well, about 2 tsp each of the oregano and the sage. 1 tsp each of the cumin seed and dried red peppers. Salt and pepper to taste. I probably will add a dash of beer (about 1/2 cup) for obscure reasons. This crockpots all day, or could be simmered for probably about 2 hours. Traditionally, this is served in bowls, with hot flour tortillas, salsa, and cilantro. You can also have sour cream, grated cheese, olives, and pickled carrots and jalapenos around. Of course, you wrap all this up in the tortillas, making killer burritos. I throw one twist into this, a technique that comes from carnitas. After cooking, I separate the meat from the broth, crisp the meat under the broiler, and reduce the sauce in the pan. This adds a great texture to the meat, and keeps the burritos from being too soggy. This is not what the original requester would want to do.
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