This is a package of chicken thighs from which the chicken scallopini was made and with which something must be done. The remaining thighs are seasoned heavily and broiled. I might have ruined one of the Silpats there. Oops. Should have used aluminum foil, I guess. It will still work fine, it is just become very ugly.
Oh nooooos! Mah dadgum potato dun sprouted! I have only one potato and it is starting to grow branches. Whenever I see a thing like this I think I might had just turn it into a bonsai potato, you know, provide it a shallow tray and a little mound of dirt.
The vegetables are oiled and seasoned exactly like the thighs and broiled similarly.
The thighs begin their boil in the largest pot, while the vegetables are broiling which will be added to the pot later, so the broth is started incrementally. These two things are broiled separately to caramelize their surfaces, the chicken by Maillard and the vegetables by simple caramelization, to layer additional complex flavors and to concentrate those flavors which will then be diluted in water.
Not pictured: broth in largest pot. It is just a bunch of stuff boiling in a pot. Nothing to see, actually. It is not interesting.
The broth does not have the advantage of the whole chicken carcass, the bone and its marrow. (Although the option still exists to include homemade chicken broth that was made previously and which is still available. It will depend on how well this broth develops)
Bay leaf is added to the broth, but no other additional seasonings. All the seasonings are present on the roasted chicken thighs and on the vegetables.
Now all the chicken thighs and the vegetables are in the largest pot with water. They are bubbling away and softening. The chicken is removed and shredded with two forks and then returned to the water. The broth is taste-tested. Surface oil is removed.
Thick broad egg noodles are prepared. Along the line of pappardelle except broader and in the shape of squares and not ribbons.
The dough relaxes for twenty minutes.
The Atlas is attached to the work surface. Its rollers will enable more uniform pasta than possible by hand-rolling. Only three of the four dough balls were rolled because -- what? -- do you think I'm insane?
The Atlas cranks from 1 most thick to 7 most thin. These noodles are rolled to 4, which is rather thick for a pasta noodle. If they rolled to 7, the dough would stretch beyond the length of the work surface. The machine has a motor, and it works fine, but it is a lot more fun to hand-crank it.
The strips are cut in half lengthwise then all three pairs are cut into squares. One-by-one, the squares are carefully placed into the simmering broth .
Finally, a bag of frozen peas is added to the pot. The peas need not cook. The noodle soup is ready as soon as the peas are warmed through.
Chicken 'n Dumplings
This chicken noodle soup resembles, but not exactly, the way my dear mum, bless 'er, made what she calls chicken 'n dumplings. That was in the days of yore when she cooked, but she is completely beyond all of that now and hasn't turned on a stove in an age. It is most likely not what you would call chicken 'n dumplings, her dumplings were actually egg noodles, pappardelle specifically, except broader than that and large thick squares instead of broad ribbons. I loved them, especially when they stuck together in a stack and cooked incompletely with a somewhat raw interior where they connected. That was due to the thick pasta squares being carelessly layered into the pot. The bench flour covering the pasta carried into the broth thickens it. Mum simply boiled a whole chicken until it fell apart, along with the customary mirepoix vegetables, although she never called them that, along with potato and also peas. It was one of my favorite things that she made. Eventually I discovered that other mum's dumplings were actually like round floating wet scones and I liked that better. I completely forgot about all this until one day I was visiting my sister's family and she announced she would be making chicken 'n dumplings. Expecting actual dumplings I was surprised then to see her produce this dish with these egg noodles exactly as we were both familiar. Today I am imitating Mum's dumplings but not her chicken. These are chicken thighs that are roasted, not a whole chicken that is boiled. Plus a few of the leftover scaloppini thighs from before. This finishes that entire package of thighs, and it does take me back to those halcyon days of youth when everything was made for me by someone else. Come to think of it, what a drag that must of been for someone who really wasn't cut out for such a role and whose heart really wasn't entirely lastingly in it. Mum, thank you for hanging in there. |
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1 comment:
If you plant your potato in a grow-bag in a few weeks, you will have a potato plant and can dig potatoes out of the dirt, hold them high while shouting theatrically, "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!!!"
Then you can eat them.
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