chicken-in-the-pot

Comfort food doesn’t get more comforting than this.

With fresh baked bread and a fresh salad on the side, this is a full meal in a bowl.

Chicken-in-the-pot is basically a pumped-up bowl of chicken soup—whole pieces of chicken with chunky vegetables, matzo balls, and noodles or rice in a rich and satisfying broth.

Chicken-in-the-Pot is best made with twice cooked chicken soup. Although you could start with chicken and vegetables in water, making chicken soup from scratch, I usually start with pre-made chicken broth, and that makes this doubly rich and doubly flavorful. When I make chicken soup, I make a lot and freeze it in quarts.

Usually, I ditch the chicken after the soup is done. I find that after simmering for hours, the chicken from chicken soup has lost all its chicken-y goodness to the soup and has become tasteless. Which is good for the soup, but not for the chicken. Even the cats won’t eat it. When you make Chicken-in-the-Pot you want the chicken to shine. Hence, this method.

To make Chicken-in-the-Pot, I make some matzo ball batter and pull out a few quarts of clear soup from the freezer. The soup goes into a big pot with all the vegetables.

There are two ways to go with the chicken, The first is the easier and faster: Pull the skin off some chicken legs and thighs (how much depends upon how many people you’re feeding), add them to the pot with the vegetables, and cook it all together until the chicken is cooked through. You don’t want the chicken to overcook—it seems counter-intuitive, but even though that chicken is hanging out it liquid, it will be dry if it’s overcooked. Another option, my favorite way (although it’s another step), is to roast the chicken separately. That’s just me, loving crispy chicken skin. At the end, I put a portion of roasted chicken in each bowl, ladle the soup around it, and add in the matzo balls and quail eggs.

If you want to add rice or macaroni to the soup (I’m using orzo, which is rice-shaped macaroni), it’s best to prepare it in a separate pot and add it to the soup, or to each bowl when serving. This prevents the dreaded overcooked-mushy-pasta-syndrome. You can use white rice, wild rice, orzo, alphabet pasta, stars, or egg noodles of any thickness—whatever you like. The trick is to slightly undercook the pasta or grain and, once it’s removed from the heat, ladle in a little bit of hot soup. This will prevent pasta from sticking together, give the rice/noodles a chance to absorb the chicken flavor, and be perfectly cooked.

Another fun, and unexpected, addition are boiled quail eggs.

To make the quail eggs, gently add the quail eggs to a pot of boiling water and boil them for 2⅓ to 3 minutes. Remove them from the boiling water and immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. When they’re cool, they’re ready to be peeled. If they don’t peel easily, put them in a bowl of white vinegar for 30 minutes. This will soften the shells and make them very easy to peel. Once peeled, store them in the fridge in cold water, in a bowl or zip bag, to keep them fresh. Plan on adding 2 eggs per serving.

There are really no measurements with the vegetables. I just consider how many people will be eating when I add each item.

• Here’s what you’ll need:

• Grandma’s Jewish Chicken Soup. Figure on one quart for every two diners.

• Chicken. I don’t use breast meat in this, as it doesn’t add flavor to the soup. It also easily overcooks and then is dry, which, because it’s sitting in liquid, is strange but true. I use legs and thighs. You’ll want 2—3 pieces per person, depending upon their size.

• Matzo balls. I prefer to make them on the smaller side for this dish. I find a 1½“ cookie scoop is perfect.

  You’ll need 3—4 for each serving.

• Vegetables. Carrots, parsnips, and celery in 1” chunks. Leeks (white part only) sliced into ½“ thick rings. String beans, trimmed and cut in half. Mushrooms sliced thickly. Frozen peas are just tossed in. You can also use canned or frozen corn or chunks of corn on the cob. Usually, I like my fresh vegetables on the crisp side, but in this soup, I think soft—but not mushy—works best. Be generous with the leeks, as you want that onion-y flavor in the broth. One clove of chopped garlic adds flavor without making the garlic-y taste too prominent. You can also add leafy greens. A very typical Italian soup adds pieces of escarole to chicken soup, and that works wonderfully well here.

• Fresh herbs. Chicken soup from other cultures often uses thyme, rosemary, cilantro, and other herbs. Jewish chicken soup does not. I love those flavors, but not here. This is my comfort food and I want it to taste the way it did when Grandma made it. Which means, you’ll want a moderate amount of parsley and lots of fresh dill.

Here’s how to make it:

Get your matzo balls going.

• Remove the skin from the chicken but leave the bones in.

Method #1—Pour a little glug of neutral oil into your large soup pot. Turn the heat to medium-high, and when the oil is hot, add the chicken to the pot. Brown each piece quickly, on both sides. You don’t want to cook it through. Then, add the chicken back to the pot and continue on as in method #2.

Method #2—Put the chicken into a large soup pot and pour in your chicken broth. Bring it to a boil and lower the heat to keep the soup at a gentle simmer.

• Let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes. Then, add the vegetables, except for frozen peas and corn. Simmer for another 15—20 minutes and check to see if the chicken is done. When it is, add in frozen peas and/or frozen corn and the herbs. Remove the pot from the heat. The frozen vegetables will cook in the hot soup.

Here’s how to serve Chicken-in-the-Pot:

Into each bowl, put a portion of the pasta or rice, if using. Add 3 matzo balls, a couple pieces of chicken, and a couple of quail eggs, if using. Ladle the soup and vegetables over them and serve with another snip of dill.  

As Grandma would say, “Gay Essen!” (Go eat!)