Chicken and Rice Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup
(except with rice instead)

I got this recipe from Tyler Florence on the Food Network--5 stars and over 130 reviews. Started with a whole chicken. This ruffled my feathers. I squealed girlishly when removing the neck, heart and liver from the inner cavity of the dead bird. During this process, the liver glopped out and smacked itself in the sink. I rinsed the bird clean, tossed it to the carving station and chopped it to fit the stock pot where it simmered for an hour. The veggies flew into the pot, too, and slowly weakened to a starchy mass as the stock stole their flavors. The oily juice from the chicken's skin boiled to the surface. Once cooked, the chicken was shredded and set aside for the soup. A new batch of carrots, onion, celery and garlic were sauteed in olive oil with fresh thyme and a bay leaf. Well, I used two bay leaves because I didn't have one when I started the stock, and I didn't want to miss out! After watching the veggies sizzle for about six minutes, we poured in the yellow stock . Sadly lacking the traditional egg noodles, we settled for microwaved Jasmine rice (which thickened the soup with surprising finesse). Finally, we stirred in the chicken and added quite a bit of salt and pepper to raise the value of the flavors. Crusty sourdough bread and butter served as the secret pairing with this soup. After mixing a little chili garlic paste, I raised a scalding spoon of soup to my mouth and cooled it. The buttery creaminess from the fat of the chicken wrapped around the steamy hot broth, followed by a quick sting of the chili. Every time I dipped my slice of warm bread into the soup, it became smothered with a thick yellow broth that brought bold vegetable flavors with every bite. Carrots, white onion, celery and garlic were the stars of this recipe. They flavored the initial stock, and in the second round, they added warm colors and slightly solid textures. The turnip in the stock ramped up a layer of new heartiness. It was my first time working with a turnip, and it won't be my last! This soup is sure to peck the immune system into high gear! Read more!