A drop-dead delicious soup that sprung out of a Greek Avgolemono soup I once had many years ago and has since become my favorite cure-all winter warming soup – Flavored with Lotsa garlic, black pepper, lemon, and all that mustardy goodness that goes into it... Oh My .. Mmmm!!
Servings: 6 Per Serving: 300 ml
In my younger years, I loved making this with full cream jersey milk and cream... So here it is for those who can still tolerate dairy to such a high degree – If not you may leave the dairy out. In the past, I used to make this soup with 1 packet of instant “Royco Macaroni & Cheese” which used to come in a foil packet including some dried pasta & sauce. It really did wonders for the soup but was sadly discontinued by Pick ‘n Pay (South Africa) many years ago. It had a lovely herby blend of cheese mixtures similar to that of parmesan & strong cheddar with just a hint of blue cheese hovering in the background. Today I have found a suitable replacement by using the instant prawn or shrimp flavored ramen (3-minute) noodles, chicken stock cube, and a good brand (55 – 60 g) packet of chicken noodle soup.
Notes:
- If a whole chicken is too much. Cut the whole in half and freeze the other in a sealed bag to prevent freezer burn.
- You may use plain yellow English or German hot mustard which is what I use most of the time but it really does look lovely speckled with coarsely ground mustard made up of yellow and brown seeds.
- The brine from the tinned asparagus is what really adds flavor to this soup... So whatever you do... DO NOT throw away the brine!
- Do NOT allow any lemon pips to get into your soup – It will turn it bitter!
Ingredients:
725 g chicken, whole (Half of a whole chicken 625 – 750) Chickens were larger in those years
650 ml chicken stock, leftover from steaming or boiling the chicken in the microwave or on the stove
700 ml whole milk (Full cream)
1.3 liters water
8 ml salt
2.5 ml black pepper, freshly ground
5 ml mustard powder
7.5 ml Coleman’s mustard or my homemade version which is even better
1 lemon, whole (Medium size), zest, and juice – If you are feeling lemony add more
80 g (80 ml) double cream
430 g canned asparagus salad cuts or cocktail tips, brine reserved
66 g (132 ml) cake flour – or – level cup measures 125 ml + 7 ml
Additional options you may add are:
1 small – medium-sized onion
1 packet Royco chicken noodle soup or any other good brand
Chicken stock cube
Aromat seasoning (South African)
Parsley
As much fresh garlic as you like
Just a touch of parmesan cheese
Just a wee pinch of a good brand of blue cheese
A hand full of pasta like ramen noodles, mien, or broken bits of spaghetti
The best Asian Ramen noodles to compliment this soup and you will need two little packets of 85 g each for a 5-liter pot of soup using 1 whole chicken – use only the prawn or shrimp flavor. Do NOT try the other flavors – I have tried them and they are NOT suited to this soup. You may make up a very good version of your favorite cheese sauce to try to recreate the old recipe of Royco’s 170 g macaroni instant cheese or replace it with 2 x 85 g packets of Ramen noodles
Method:
Simmer, steam, or poach chicken in a little water (not more than 750 ml), topping up as needed for 60 – 90 minutes or until nice and tender.
Empty Chicken and its contents into a colander placed over another pot to catch all its stock. Cover with a dinner plate to allow cooling.
Debone chicken and dice up meat. Set as aside.
Place bones back into stockpot and bring to boil. Boil until reduced to about 650 ml. Empty contents into strainer or colander placed over another pot once again to catch stock. – Discard bones, reserving stock.
Measure cake flour. – Scoop chicken fat off the surface of your stock and if it is too little to make up your roux then add to it some butter using a ratio of 15 ml fat to 30 ml flour. Add fat to the soup pot. Bring to boil and quickly throw in flour constantly whisking with a wooden spoon or balloon whisk until you have a very thickened smooth paste. – Stir in a few drops of hot milk, continuously stirring until you have a smooth silky paste – Gradually add hot milk whilst doing so, until around 500 ml of the hot milk has been added and slowly bring to boil constantly stirring until flour is cooked and you have a smooth lump-free sauce. – If lumps have formed, beat with an electric beater until smooth.
Squash noodles until finely broken with hands and add to the pot together with the rest of your ingredients including milk, water, stock asparagus together with the brine in which it has come. Once noodles are ready soup is ready and you may heat it up but do not allow boiling. Adjust seasoning. – Serve and enjoy!
66 milliliters ml of butter equals 63.27 grams of butter.
Further reading for purposes of calorie counting: Always over-estimate the calories on manufacturers' packages as they always understate their calories – Otherwise you are going to find your weight start creeping up. – Example below is taken off a package of Roka instant 3-minute noodles. 1930 kJ x 2 packets=3860 kJ /4.418 = 874 calories+20% for underestimation = 1048 calories