Warm and Delicious Cream Of Chicken Soup

The quality of this soup is directly related to the quality of your chicken stock. The better your stock, the better this soup.  Don’t try to use store bought broth for this. Make any other substitutions you like. But don’t skimp on the stock.  I will give you my recipe for stock here too.

Cream of Chicken Soup
This recipe serves 4 and is easily doubled

1 cup fresh cream
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups chicken meat, diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unbleached flour
1 egg yolk, at room temperature, slightly beaten
Homemade croutons
Chopped parsley or chives

In a large saucepan, heat the milk just to boiling, then reduce heat to medium. Add stock and heat through.
In a heavy frying pan, melt the butter over low heat and then add the flour and seasoning. Stir well til blended. Cook for just 2 minutes, then add a bit of the stock to the flour mixture. Blend well and pour it all back into the saucepan.
Add some of the warm stock to a bowl. Add the slightly beaten egg yolk. Stir and blend then add the egg and back to the stock pot. Stir.
Serve immediately with the homemade croutons.

Homemade Croutons
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 slices homemade bread, cubed
Melt the butter in a small heavy skillet.
Add the bread cubes and brown on all sides. Turn frequently to prevent burning. Sprinkle with garlic powder if desired. Keep warm til time to serve the soup. Sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives if desired.
croutons for garnish (recipe follows)

Homemade Chicken Stock
In a large stock pot add:
2 chicken carcasses
1 large carrot, 1 onion cut in half and studded with three whole cloves, 6 peppercorns, 1 stalk celery.
Water to cover, approximately 6 quarts.
You can add 1 teaspoon cider vinegar to help extract the flavor from the chicken bones. If you use the vinegar add it to the water and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before cooking.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6 hours, adding small amounts of water as needed.
Allow to cool. Pull out the veggies and chicken and use them for a meal.
Strain the stock. Refrigerate until you are ready to use it. Skim off fat. Use the fat in other recipes. Use the skimmed stock in the Cream of Chicken Soup recipe above. For a rich stock, don’t water it down too much. Expect to get about 6 quarts of rich stock from 2 chickens.