Tuesday

Still cold, but no snow. Decided at work (where I am now wearing a sweater) that the citrus marinated chicken I'd planned for dinner would change to cream of chicken soup!

So, when I got home, got out my stock pot and the chicken thighs. Added 10 cups of water and the usual accompaniments (a coarse-chopped onion, some basil, some oregano, some lemon pepper seasoning, 3 minced garlic cloves, 3 bay leaves, two chicken bouillon cubes and some fresh pepper) and fired up the stove.

Now stock is a pretty personal thing. Jake, for example, cooks his without a lid and replenishes the lost water for 7 to 8 hours (in order to get the collagen out of the bones). My recipe called for 35 to 45 minutes, but a taste test did not produce the results I wanted. I ended up cooking it for over an hour with the lid on, then for another hour with the lid off. Then it tasted right!

Removed the chicken thighs to cool and strained the stock mixture. I diced up some carrots and celery and added it to the clear stock. Cooked them for about 10 minutes and added 1/2 bag of wide egg noodles. Cooked them for seven minutes more and then added the deboned, shredded chicken, whole mushroom, cut into quarters, parsley and fresh rosemary and some cooking sherry. Then I added a cup of half and half and a cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.

Upshot is I ate dinner at around 9:00 PM, but it was GOOD!!!