Chicken Stock

1 whole chicken
2 cups onion (rough chop)
2 cups celery (rough chop)
1 cup carrots  (rough chop)
2 32-oz boxes Swanson’s chicken broth
Water
Salt/pepper

In a large stockpot, add the onion, celery, carrots, chicken broth, and chicken. Add water as needed to cover the chicken. Season with salt and pepper.

Parboil the chicken, i.e., don’t overcook it—you need to be able to get the chicken off the bone, but don’t overcook it as the meat is going to be cooked more in the soup.

Remove the chicken from the stock and let it cool.

Continue simmering the stock.

Debone the chicken, adding the bones and skin back into the stock.

Simmer for 2-3 hours.

Drain stock through a mesh strainer and set aside.

Note: This should make about 4 cups of chicken stock.

For the soup:

1 stick butter
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups of chopped celery
1/4 to 1/2 cup flour
Salt/white pepper
10 eggs, separated
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, halved

Melt butter in the now-empty stockpot.

Add onions and celery and saute over medium heat until soft and have lost most of their liquid, whisk in flour stirring until flour is cooked, but not yet brown.

Slowly start adding stock, stirring as you go. Continue adding stock until the soup is the consistency you want – be it on the thick side or thin. (If you have leftover stock, it will freeze nicely.)

Add deboned chicken to the mixture.

Season to taste, salt, pepper (white pepper preferably – so you don’t have black spots in your soup).

Whisk the yolks together.

Add lemon juice to the yolks, whisking together.

Lightly whisk the egg whites – don’t beat them, just blend them together. Add up to a 1/4-cup of water to the whites to thin them out a bit.

While the soup is at a medium simmer, start incorporating the egg yolks and lemon mixture, slowly! Drizzle it into the soup and keep stirring until the yolks are thoroughly integrated into the soup – at this point, the soup should be lovely yellow color and thick.

Increase temperature a little bit and stop dropping egg white into the soup in various spots in the pot. Let them cook a little bit and then stir the soup to break up any “chunks” of egg white.

Season with salt/white pepper and add extra lemon juice if needed to “brighten” it up a bit.

Add the parsley to the soup right before serving, stirring to mix. You can also add some lemon slices if you’d like — it pretties it up a bit.

Serve.

Oh – this is especially tasty with warm naan.