Mulligatawny Soup

I recently saw this soup on the Food network show Diners Drive-ins and Dives and decided I had to try it. It is delicious. A nice comfort food for the cooler months that is basically chicken curry in gravy over rice. The recipe has everything in one pot as a soup. I like rice, so I used 1 Cup rice cooked instead of 1 cup cooked rice which was a change I made after I photographed the ingredients.

The recipe was scaled to serve Stacy and me for a Tuesday after work dinner with enough left-over for a lunch for me. Since the rice and chicken are already cooked, it is a good use of left-overs (I guess that makes my lunch a left-over left-over?).

Every week I buy a whole broiler chicken, usually 2-1/2 lbs, that I break down into boneless breasts, boneless thighs and bone-in legs and wings leaving the carcass almost bare. I roast the carcass, giblets (without the liver), wings, legs and thighs while the breasts brine. Later that evening, the breasts become the center of a nice dinner for Stacy and me while the carcass and giblets go into the freezer until I have enough bones to boil in my 16-quart stockpot, which is about once a month.

My rice is steamed in my home-made chicken stock, which adds protein and imparts a deep, rich flavor to the long-grain white rice. In total this recipe used 6 cups of chicken stock.


Recipe adapted from the recipe contributed by Judy Miles, owner of The Little Depot Diner in Peabody, MA to DDD.

Ingredients
• 1 medium onion diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 medium leek minced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1-1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons curry powder
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 Sierra Beauty apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 cup white rice cooked in chicken stock (1 cup rice, 2 cups chicken stock, dash of salt, 21 minutes steam time)
• Legs and thighs from one chicken roasted 15 minutes, cooled and diced.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon herbs from Provenance
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup cream, hot

Directions
In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter and add the onion, leek, carrots, and celery stalks. Cook until tender, but do not burn them. Stir in the flour and curry and cook for 3 minutes. Pour in 4 cups of chicken stock and let simmer for 30 minutes. Then add in the remaining ingredients, except the hot cream. Let simmer for 15 minutes and then add in 1 cup hot cream. Ladle into serving bowls and serve.

Stacy and I loved the soup snug in our warm house on a frigid, drizzly Tuesday evening. One idea I have to improve the soup is to puree the mirepoix after the 30 minute simmer then add the rest of the ingredients. I believe this will make the soup more like a bisque.