the id, the ego, & the single misfiring brain cell

I ain't gonna lie, girlfriend. This is good.

It all began a week or two ago when Mom (Fornander) made some sort of delicious chicken soup, I asked for the recipe, and forgot to follow up to get it. She told me at the time but lost me right after the "Oh, it's easy..." part. I really need stuff written down; I'm lysdexic that way. 

So yesterday evening, in my bid to find some sort of relief for whatever plagues me, we went to the grocery store for...well, groceries. (That feels somewhat tautological.) I think we needed water (I'm addicted to cheap-O seltzer water), but I also wanted ingredients for chicken soup. We discussed it and picked up about three fresh breasts* with rib meat, a fresh bunch of celery, a pound of unskinned carrots**, a fresh pound or two of yellow onions, and a jalapeno. Also, a can of red beans. Everything else needed, we stock. 

* Chicken. Otherwise...maybe you should tell me what image flashed through your mind. Something from Total Recall, perhaps? 

** You know, the way they come out of the ground. Grocery stores still carry those, if you look hard enough. Better for you than the fake "baby" carrots, too. Just not quite as convenient.

Then I came home and researched how to make one's own chicken stock as a good soup base. You know what they tell you to do? Check it: Roughly chop an onion, four celery stalks, four carrots, a bunch of parsley, a clove of garlic, etc, into water with your chicken, boil the hell out of it, skim off the fat, boil the hell out of it again, skim again, simmer for another three hours, take out the chicken and bone/skin it, put the meat somewhere safe away from the cats*, replace the bones and skin, boil it some more, then strain the whole thing into something you can put into your fridge overnight and throw everything else away. In the morning, you pull it out and pick off the last of the fat--congealed at the top--strain the rest again, and you have about five cups of homemade chicken stock. 

* Fair enough. My addition. 

Now...is it just me, or does that sound supremely wasteful? 

Right. 

So this morning, I toss my three breasts into some water in a huge honking pot, roughly chop about five onions into it, toss in about three tablespoons of minced garlic, add some seasoned salt, black pepper, three bay leaves, some thyme, parsley, dill weed, and...hm. (Oh dammit. I forgot the rosemary.) Unless noted otherwise, I use dry ingredients. I just sprinkle or dump until I feel I have enough. (Hey! If it was good enough for Grandmother, it's good enough for me.)

I boiled it for a couple of hours, covered. While that was happening, I cleaned and chopped almost all of the celery and carrots.* I deseeded the jalapeno and minced it up.**

* Don't skin the carrots. The skin has most of the nutrients, and once they're cooked, you can't tell they haven't been skinned, so people don't even get grossed out.  

** While you're doing this, do not wipe your eye. (Or...do it, then write to me about the experience.) 

Then I took out the chicken bits, turned off the heat, and put the chicken in the fridge for a bit since I have to handle it. After half an hour, I went back to the broth and skimmed as much fat off the top as I could and dumped it down the drain to clog up the septic system. 

By then, the chicken was cool, so I meticulously deboned and skinned it, chopped it into tiny pieces, and put it back in the pot with the carrots, celery, jalapeno, a drained can of whole kernel corn, and a drained can of red beans. I ended up adding a quart of store-bought chicken stock, as well. I like my soup soupy. 

Then it simmered for another two hours. At this point, I seasoned to taste. 

It is Oh my god delicious.  

Yeah. I have to learn how to put it in a bowl with a spring of parsley on fine linen with a nice glass of wine and take a picture with a very short depth-of-field lens so most of the picture is slightly blurred but the soup is in focus and looks irresistible, but I'm just not that sophisticated yet. 

Ok. Ok. I'm just too lazy. 

d