Family Cooking - PT 2 - Cream of Broccoli Soup and Homemade Chicken Soup

Uncle Paul's Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
• 1 can evaporated milk (or half-n-half)
• 1/4 lb bacon
• 1/4 lb shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 large (or 2 small) heads of broccoli
• 1/4 cup choped onlion
• dash of nutmeg
• 1/4 cup flour

Fry bacon until crisp. Leave drippings and remove bacon and set aside. Add broccoli and 1/2 up of chicken broth. Cook until softened.

Remove broccoli and cut off all florets into small pieces (approx. 1") and set aside.

Chop stems into small pieces and place in cuisinart/or blender. Add bacon, flour, onion, cheese and enough chicken broth to be able to work it. Turn on and off until completely blended.

Add to pot with all the rest of the broth and cook. Keep it at a simmer and add the cream of celery soup to mixture. WHen it is completely mixed in, add the evaporated milk (or 1/2 and 1/2) and the reserved broccoli. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and it is ready to surve.

NOTE 1: If you use one large head broccoli, peel the stems before cooking it otherwise it will make the soup stringy.

NOTE 2: Some people find the smell of the broccoli cooking unpleasant until cooked completely. The soup will NOT taste like the broccoli smells while cooking. Very mild, smooth and creamy.

NOTE 3: Serves well with warm Italian bread, fresh or toasted.

NOTE 4: Although this is Uncle Paul's recipe, my mother used to make it for us and several family holiday meals. Very good soup. This receipe "went lost" for about 5 years and then resurfaced. I would like to spread it around so the recipe is never lost. Good eating.


Nancy's Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
1 large whole onion, peeled with ends cut off and surface scored with sharp knife
1/2 stalk of celery (especially the inner, leafy stalks. Wash and cut off and discard ends
3-4 large carrots, peeled with ends cut off and discarded
1-2 fresh tomatoes
1 Tblsp oil
Salt to taste
1 fresh lemon

Wash whole chicken inside and out and completely coat inside and out with salt. Let sit for about 10 minutes then rince salt completely off. (this breaks down the fat and leaves a cleaner chicken for the broth)

Put oil in large pot and place chicken (whole or cut-up) and brown chicken lightly, turning occassionally to make sure all parts have been done.

Add enough water to cover the chicken, add whole onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, season lightly with soup. (We had a house rule that we under-salt the soup while cooking and allow people to salt their own individual bowls to taste. Some of us liked our saltier than others and this is the only fair way to accommodate everyone's pallet individually)


Bring water to a boil and simmer for 2-3 hours. When done, remove all food ingredients with slated spoon. Debone/deskin chicken and cut up into bite-sized pieces. Chop vegetables and return all to the pot and reheat. Squeeze lemon juice into the broth and stir.

NOTE 1: Sometimes we cut up the vegetables ahead of time while cooking, depending on whether you want the more work to occur before it cooks, or after it cooks before serving.

NOTE 2: This soup may be served in a bowl with cooked rice, pastina (tiny pasta such as orzo, acini de pepe). If you serve with rice, you can add alittle more lemon juice to taste for each bowl. If you serve with pastina, you may sprinkle parmasea cheese over it. Please do not try both the extra lemon AND the parmasea cheese and it does not taste as good like that.

NOTE 3: If you decide to cook the soup with select parts of chicken instead of the whole, please use the thighs, legs, and/or back as they make the best broth. If you cook the chicken soup with only the breast, the broth will be clear and thin. Not recommended.

NOTE 4: If a whole chicken seems like too much meat for your taste in the soup. hold out part of the chicken and use it to make chicken salad. (Chicken Salad: chop chicken and place in a bowl. Add miracle whip and a couple of squirts of ranch dressing, salt and pepper to taste).

NOTE 5: I consider celery to be the most necessary ingredient next to the chicken. If you would like, you may substitute a soup-sized can of V-8 juice in place of the other vegetables to give the broth a more vegetable taste.