Chicken 2-for-1: Fricassee and Soup

Christmas is hardly over and already newspapers and magazines are filled with good advice about post-Christmas diet plans. Which is ironic considering that there are studies claiming that many households actually eat a more balanced diet over the holidays than they normally do! After all, who serves ready-made meals for Christmas lunch? Still, there is no denying that large quantities of food (and alcohol) leave us all in need of simpler and lighter kitchen delights. Chicken fricassee fits the bill perfectly: it's light, easy to make, and a great comfort food. And as an added bonus, its preparation provides you with enough chicken stock to make a lovely chicken soup.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 free-range chicken (circa 1,2-1,5 kg)

1 large onion

1 large carrot
Half a celeriac
1 leek
Bunch of parsley
3 bay leaves
½  teaspoon of black pepper corns
5 juniper berries (if you can find them)
3 cloves
100 ml white wine
250 gr green asparagus
150gr frozen peas
150 gr small mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
50 ml single cream
Cayenne
Lemon juice


Preparation:


1. First of all you have to make the chicken stock. For this you simply put the chicken in a large pot filled with cold water (1,5-2,0l). Then add the onion (peeled but whole), the carrot, leek, and celeriac (all chopped into large pieces), the parsley (whole), the bay leave, cloves, juniper berries, and black pepper corns, and a generous amount of salt. Bring to the boil and leave to cook gently for at least 1 1/2 hours (I use a pressure cooker for this, in which case it only takes 45mins). Once the chicken is cooked through, remove from the broth and set aside. 

2. Once the broth has had a bit of time to cool off, remove the fat that will have collected on the surface and strain through a sieve. This is the chicken stock which you can then use to make a soup and the fricassee. 

3. For the fricassee you first need to prepare the vegetables. Remove the peas from the freezer and allow to defrost. Clean the green asparagus and blanche in boiling water for a few minutes (if you put it into freezing cold water right afterwards, it will retain a beautiful vibrant green color). The mushrooms should be cleaned with a dry cloth and quartered. For the meat, simply remove the meat from the chicken legs and one breast and tear into rough pieces using your fingers (we'll use the second chicken breast for the soup). 

4. Now heat the butter in a large saucepan, then add the flour. Stir well, then add about 500ml of the chicken stock, the white wine, and the cream. Mix until the butter-flour combination has dissolved (it serves to thicken to stock slightly), then add the vegetables. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and some lemon juice. Once the peas and the mushrooms have softened, add the meat. Allow to cook for a few more minutes before serving with some plain rice. 

5. For the soup, simply chop up some carrot, leek, celeriac, and parsley (in total about 6 tablespoons worth) and add to the stock. Throw in some soup noodles if you want to, and allow to cook for about 10 minutes. Season to taste (this may need quite a bit of salt), and finally add in the remaining breast meat from the chicken (torn into smallish pieces). 

Recipe adapted from Tim Mälzer.