Savory Chicken Chowder
- Cooking fryer: 1 day in advance
- Soup cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
Ingredients to Simmer and Purée:
- 9 cups of chicken broth
- 1½ cups sliced carrots (approximately 4 carrots)
- 1½ cups sliced celery
- 1 onion cut into quarters
- 6 whole cloves
- 2 bay leaves
Chicken, Barley and Vegetables to Add to Pot:
- 1 fryer chicken, cooked, deboned, and cut into small pieces.
- 1 cup uncooked barley
- 3 cups sliced carrots (approximately 8 carrots)
- 8-10 mushrooms, sliced or chopped
Thickening Paste:
- 4½ tablespoons butter
- 4½ tablespoons flour
- 1½ teaspoons ground curry
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- Salt to taste
Additional Liquids:
- ½ cup dry sherry
- 1½ cups half and half
Instructions
-
Cook fryer chicken the day before.
- Debone and cut meat into small pieces, refrigerate.
- Strain broth and refrigerate to use in the soup pot.
- In a Dutch oven, add 9 cups chicken broth, 1½ cups sliced carrots, celery, and onion quarters.
- Place cloves and bay leaves inside a tea strainer; add to Dutch oven.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer covered until the vegetables are very tender; approximately 15-20 minutes.
- Remove tea strainer and set aside.
- With a large colander placed over a large bowl, carefully pour the broth and vegetables from the Dutch oven into the colander.
- Lift the colander out of the bowl and transfer the cooked vegetables to a blender.
- Add 1 cup of the broth from the bowl to the blender.
- Pour the remaining 8 cups of broth back into the Dutch oven.
- Purée the vegetables in the blender until smooth.
- Pour the vegetable purée into the Dutch oven.
- Place tea strainer with cloves and bay leaves back into the Dutch oven.
- Add barley, 3 cups of sliced carrots, sliced mushrooms and the cooked chicken to the Dutch oven.
- Simmer covered for 45 minutes.
- Remove tea strainer tossing the cloves and bay leaves out.
- In a small pan, melt butter.
- Mix flour, curry, pepper and salt together; add mixture to melted butter.
- Whisk until smooth.
- Add sherry and about 1 cup of liquid from Dutch oven to make a thin paste.
- Whisk the paste into the contents of the Dutch oven.
- Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Stir in half and half and remove from heat.
- Serve.
Comments
Serves 8 to 10.This soup is a family favorite and we often call it liquid gold because it is so tasty.
Serve with Valerie's Famous Buttermilk Biscuits or cornbread.