Chicken soup with rice

Believe it or not, it's been almost spring-like 'round here... but winter just won't release her kung-fu grip... or Mother Nature is going through menopause or summing. I dunno. But it's frustrating, to say the least.

In an attempt to retain/regain (I'm not sure quite what my status is right now... which is part of the problem, I suppose) my sanity and to reduce my cabin fever, I do my damnedest to get out for a nice long walk when the weather takes a break from raining and snowing. If I can, I take the long way around to get to the grocery store on my way home from work. I noticed that Charley, my jade plant, has roused from his wintery slumber, and that some of the other plants are trying to do the same.

... my iphone is not exactly the best at focusing on up close pictures, but, you can see the buds breaking through... You can do it, little buddies! I believe in youuuuu~!

Of course, the day after this picture was taken it rained allllll morning which cooled everything down so it naturally turned into snow.  A decent amount fell overnight, too... plough-worthy. I had small boulders to move this morning before I left for work. I think I will have treat myself to warmer climate the next place I decide to live. I think I've earned it.

The point is, I had no intention of going outside. Which meant that I had to make use of whatever groceries and other items I had in the house. Lucky for me, I stocked up really well the day before. (meat, veggies and fruits I like were on saaaaale! Yippie!)

Now, I try and do most of my produce shopping at the 道の駅, which translates to “Road Station”, which is basically a rest-stop along the National Highway (国の道) #4, which sells locally grown and made goods. Selection is dependent upon what's in season, of course, but you can usually get potatoes, carrots, ginger, garlic, various dried beans (soy, mung, adzuki)  negi (welsh onion), daikon and spinach at least. Sometimes there're grapes, goya, pumpkin, eggplant, popcorn, apple tea, apples, celery, tomatoes, strawberries, brown rice, bell peppers (even purple ones!, I found purple carrots a few times, too!), ... well, you get the idea. The labels state which farm they were grown at, and they're usually better prices than at the supermarket.

I challenged myself to make soup using as many locally grown vegetables as possible... and to use more of the rice-of-school-lunches-past I had amassed in my freezer. Here's what I came up with:

Chicken Soup with Rice

Ingredients:

- 300g boneless, skinless chicken breast strips, cut into bite-sized pieces.

- 250g carrots, chopped *

- 350g potatoes with flesh, chopped *

- 130g celery (1 long stalk), chopped

- 100g shiitake mushrooms, sliced *

-100g dry soybeans (pre-rinsed) *

- 2 cubes Ajinomoto chicken consomme stock

- 450g cooked white rice (short grain, sticky)

- 2 tsp dried rosemary

- 1 tsp dried basil

- 1 tsp dried thyme

- 2 bay leaves

- 1 tsp dried chives                                                      * denotes locally grown veggies

Method:

1) Toss everything (except the rice)  into my favourite cooking vessel, add enough water to cover everything. Cook on low for 4 hours. Add the rice in about an hour before serving if frozen (like mine was).

I actually added the rice earlier, and it ended up boiling over and making a bit of a mess, plus the rice got kinda mushy, so, this is what I'm going to do next time I make it. I reserve the right to go back and update this recipe if I find that doesn't solve the problem... might be best to just thaw the rice and toss it into the bowl when you serve it up. I just wanted to make sure that the rice was well flavoured by the stock.

2) Season with fresh cracked black pepper and a dinner roll or biscuit. Yum!

The very first idea-seed for this type of soup was planted many, many years ago when I read the poem “Chicken Soup with Rice”  by Maurice Sendak. I'm afraid I can't recall which elementary school educator deserves credit for exposing me to this, but it has stuck with me forever.

I desired some baked goods, but, as I've already established, had no desire to venture into the icky weather... and why the heck wouldn't I make use of the baking supplies I've got!

Always trying to take the healthy high ground, I opted to use whole wheat flour (they sell the tiniest bags of them... but better than only white) and ended up running out, so I filled out the flour requirements with white/all purpose (hard to know exactly what I've got to work with, but it makes cookies/muffins etc just fine, so whatever). The recipe called for shortening, but I substituted with butter and they turned out super good! Trust me when I say it was hard to resist eating them all that evening.

Whole Wheat Biscuits (yields 13)                                                                           

Ingredients:

250g flour (this batch ended up being ~230g ww flour, 20g all purpose)

10g (1tbsp) baking powder

3g (1/2 tsp) sea salt

85g unsalted butter (1/2 C)

150ml (3/4 C) skim milk

Method:

1) Prehead oven to 450F (230C)

2) In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients (I stirred 'em with a chopstick). Cut in the butter (room temp) using a fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

3) Slowly add in milk, still stirring with a fork. Mix until the dough is soft, moist, and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

4) Remove the dough from the bowl and toss on a lightly floured surface until it's no longer sticky. Roll it out until about 1/2 inch thick, and cut into circles using a floured cookie cutter (or, if you're me, a drinking glass). Press together the unused dough and repeat the process. Take care not to over-kneed the dough, as I found the last few I cut did not rise as much as the first. (I made the last of it into a bit of a bun shape... that's why there's a ball in the picture. Haha.)

5) Place the biscuits on a lightly floured/ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

So simple and delicious, I wish I was stuffing my face with them right now. But then I'd be getting crumbs in my keyboard and that would be trrrrible.