A million odes have been sung to a pot of chicken soup over the centuries. Here’s mine: “Oh chicken soup, you gorgeous golden broth, there is nothing quite like you that can make my home smell so profoundly and immediately Jewish.”
Recipe: See Leah’s Parsley Matzo Ball recipe and turn her classic soup into a Passover starter.
Reprinted with permission from Modern Jewish Cooking, ©2015 by Leah Koenig, Photos by ©2015 Sang An. Published by Chronicle Books, LLC.
With its tender hunks of meat, meltingly soft vegetables, and a broth that could cure the toughest cold (there’s a reason why it’s known as “Jewish penicillin”), chicken soup simmered with garlic, parsley, and onions is the epitome of Jewish comfort food. Serve this simple, classic version with egg noodles, rice, Matzo Balls, or Beef Kreplach with Ginger and Cilantro.
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| 6-8 people |
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With its tender hunks of meat, meltingly soft vegetables, and a broth that could cure the toughest cold (there’s a reason why it’s known as “Jewish penicillin”), chicken soup simmered with garlic, parsley, and onions is the epitome of Jewish comfort food. Serve this simple, classic version with egg noodles, rice, Matzo Balls, or Beef Kreplach with Ginger and Cilantro.
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Ingredients
- 3-3-1/2 lb. whole chicken (equals 1.4 - 1.6 kg)
- 3 large carrots peeled and halved crosswise
- 3 stalks celery with leaves, halved crosswise
- 2 yellow onions halved through the root
- 1 medium fennel bulb quartered and cored
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 cloves garlic smashed
- 1/4 cup (10 g) loosely packed fresh parsley with stems, plus roughly chopped parsley for serving
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- lemon wedges for serving (optional)
Servings: people
Instructions
- Place the chicken, carrots, celery, onions, fennel, bay leaf, garlic, and parsley stems in a large soup pot and cover with cold water by 1 in/2.5 cm. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn the heat to low. Gently simmer, partially covered, skimming off any foam that accumulates, until the chicken is very tender and falling off the bone, 1 to 1-1/2 hours. You want the soup to roll along at the gentlest simmer. If it starts to bubble too vigorously, nudge the heat down a little.
- Remove the chicken and vegetables from the pot and transfer to a cutting board. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Return the strained broth to the pot; discard the parsley stems and bay leaf. Using your fingers, remove the meat from the bones and roughly chop. Slice the vegetables into bite-size pieces and return them to the pot along with the chicken meat. Season with salt and pepper.
- Divide into bowls and top with chopped parsley. Serve hot with lemon wedges for squeezing, if desired.
