Kelda Hains' Chicken Soup

Photo: Douglas Johns

This stock should be stand-alone delicious. You’re more than halfway to a decent meal with good
homemade stock on hand.
The saffron is optional, but a few threads will give the soup a more golden hue.
Yield: 1½ litres
one chicken frame
1½ litres water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 bayleaf
few slices of leek, half a carrot, couple of celery leaves
6 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
a few threads saffron
1 pinch fennel seeds
5 black peppercorns
Put the chicken in a pot that fits it well. Just cover with cold water.
Bring to the boil, and skim any foam that rises. Reduce the heat to low, add the salt and vinegar, and
cook covered for one hour.
Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to simmer for another hour.
Taste the stock. The question to ask is: can I eat it like this? If not, continue to simmer until you have a
good chickeny flavour.
Let the stock cool with the bones still in it. Sieve, and store in the fridge.
If you are going to make the chicken soup below, you’ll probably have extra stock left over –this can be
frozen, for use later in a risotto, pan sauce, or soup.
Chicken soup
Seasoning the chicken breasts in advance is highly recommended. I tend to poach with the skin on and
serve this way, but you can remove the skin after cooking if you prefer.
Serves 4
2 chicken breasts from your boned chicken
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter/or chicken fat from the top of your stock
150 grams carrot
75 grams leek
100 grams celery
salt and pepper
herbed ricotta gnocchi (see recipe on page s)
Season and refrigerate the chicken breasts in advance for 1–24 hours.
Take the stock from the fridge. Gently scoop off the fat, and set it aside.
Prepare the vegetables, keeping each one separate. It’s good to cut all vegetables to a similar size. Cut
the leek at the point where it changes from light to dark green. Keep the dark green part for a stock,
halve the white part lengthwise, and wash well. Trim any tough outside parts and slice lengthwise into
strips, then into dice.
Peel and dice the carrots.
Trim the leaves and base of the celery, slice lengthwise into strips, then into dice.
Heat the butter or chicken fat in a pan, and add a pinch of salt and the carrots.
Cook for 5 minutes until the carrots soften slightly, and add the celery. Cook for another 5 minutes,
then add the leeks. Cook until the leeks are tender but still bright green. Set aside.
Meanwhile, bring 1 litre of stock to the boil.
Place the chicken breasts in the stock. Bring to a simmer, turn the chicken breasts over, then take off
the heat and cover. The chicken will cook in the residual heat in 12 minutes. This will keep the meat
juicy and tender.
Remove the chicken breasts from the stock, and put them on a plate while you finish the soup. Pour the
stock over the vegetables and bring it to the boil. Check the seasoning. Hold the soup at this point
while you poach the gnocchi.
To poach the gnocchi, sluice out your poaching pot. Return it to the heat with 2 litres of water and 1
teaspoon of salt. Bring the water to the boil, and lower in 3 gnocchi per person. Bring back to a simmer
and cook gently. The gnocchi will rise to the top of the pot fairly quickly. Keep poaching for another
minute.
Lift the gnocchi from the pot with a slotted spoon, and put them straight into warmed bowls.
Just before serving, slice the chicken breasts thinly across the grain and add back to the soup. Warm
gently. Don’t boil it, or the chicken will toughen.
Ladle the soup over the gnocchi in the bowls.
Herbed ricotta gnocchi
I make this using Zany Zeus ricotta, which is fairly firm. If you use another brand, you may need to
drain the ricotta for an hour or two in the fridge, to remove excess liquid.
I’ve tried to keep the flour to a minimum so the gnocchi are very tender. Because of this, the gnocchi
mix will hold together better if you allow it to rest in the fridge. A couple of hours is good, but even
better, make the mix a day in advance. Use any soft herbs, but limit the number of herbs, so there will
be a bright herby clarity. My absolute favourite herb for these gnocchi is sweet marjoram. You can also
use chervil, dill, lovage, chives, or parsley.
Serves 4
400 grams ricotta
10 grates fresh nutmeg
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons finely grated pecorino Romano
heaped ¼ cup finely chopped, soft herbs.
5 tablespoons plain flour
2 egg yolks
Put the ricotta in a bowl, and add all the other ingredients. Make sure to add the flour and egg yolks
last, and beat thoroughly until evenly combined.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 48 hours, before rolling into balls.
To roll the balls, take a heaped tablespoon of the mix, and shape it between two spoons or with wet
hands.