Ben’s Chicken Soup…

What??? Ben’s Chicken Soup Recipe??? WTF!!!

“What??? What did he say???? Ben’s Chicken Soup on a Fashion, Beauty Photography and More… Blog?…”

Cooking and Photography have many similarities. They both have to deal with a lot of ingredients.

Yes, this is the part of my blog that I have neglected. The “MORE” part of the title of Benjamin Kanarek Blog. It is the other thing I like to do; Cooking, when I have the time. I make a pretty mean chicken soup.

So here goes… This will be good for at least 4 very large portions and will last a second day for the soup only.

Prepare the following:

4 Chicken thighs and 4 legs
A very large cooking onion or 2 medium sized ones
4 sections of garlic not the whole bulb!  These should be medium sized cloves.
6 large carrots
2 medium sized white turnip’s
1 large celery branch
Fresh Parsley
6 bouillon cubes
Pepper
Corn or Sunflower seed oil

… And the ingredient that makes this so different…

1 medium sized Leek

Prepare a pot that can accommodate three liters of water plus all of the ingredients. I would suggest a pot that has at least a 5-6 liter capacity. The pot must have a lid (a cover)
Have a Soup spoon available.

Prepare the following vegetables:

Finely chop the onions and place them in a bowl, as they will be the first in to the pot.  You will need the space on the cutting board to chop the other vegetables.

Slice the carrots to around a 1/8th inch or 5mm thickness.
Dice the white beets in 1/4 inch 1cm cubes
Slice the Leeks and Celery branch in 1/4 inch 1cm thick pieces
Finely chop a hand full of parsley leaves.
Finely slice the 4 cloves of Garlic in 1mm or 1/32nd of an inch slices.

Keep these ingredients aside for now.

Place the large pot on the stove at a medium temperature. Put 4 Soup Spoons of the cooking oil in to the pot. Wait about 2-3 minutes. Put a drop of water in the cooking oil. If it pops the temperature is correct.

Put the chopped onions in to the pot stirring occasionally for around 2-3 minutes. Onions should be a very light brown.
Now place the eight pieces of chicken in to the pot and stir the onions and chicken together.
Put the lid on the pot and check every minute or so stirring as not to burn. Do this for about two to three minutes.

You may now add ALL of the ingredients except the Garlic and the Parsley.

Cover the pot and check it every 1 minute for around 6-8 minutes always stirring and re-covering the pot after each stirring.  We don’t want to burn the ingredients.

Here comes the soup…

Remove the lid of the pot and you will now add 3 (three) liters of water.
Add the 6 bouillon cubes
Add the sliced Garlic
Add 1/4 teaspoon of Pepper.

Now reduce the heat to around 4/10 on the thermostat and put the lid on leaving around a 1/4 inch 1cm opening on the side.  This will keep the soup from boiling over. That is the reason for the Soup Spoon or other utensil to keep the lid open a bit.

You will see that the soup is boiling, but not rapidly.  Keep it at this setting for around 20 minutes. You may notice a loss of volume from the evaporation.  You can compensate by adding around 1/4 cup or 10 CL of water.

Lower the temperature to around 3/10 on the thermostat and cover the pot completely. You will know it is too hot if the soup boils over. If it does, lower the temperature 1 notch until it stops doing so.  3/10 is usually the good temperature. It should be boiling, but NOT boiling over.

You may now add the chopped Parsley

Leave on stove for another 1.5 hours.  You may add another 1/4 cup, 10CL of water to compensate for the evaporation.

Now that your soup is ready, take another smaller pot and transfer enough soup for 4 large servings and perhaps a second serving of the soup. Place the second pot on a low medium setting of around 2-3/10 and add a cup of fine soup noodles. I would suggest a half cup or around 150 grams. Noodles will be ready in 3-5 minutes.

Serve the soup in a separate bowl.  Place the pieces of chicken on a separate plate allowing you to cut the chicken to be placed in the soup or eaten separately. You may like to eat your chicken with either Dijon or Grey Poupon Mustard.

Option #2

If you enjoy a smooth soup, you can put your soup in a blender until smooth and serve in the same manner.  Very flavorful option.

Enjoy… I know that you will!

This was a customization of my Mom’s original recipe.

About Benjamin Kanarek
Fashion and Beauty Photographer. Some of the magazines I have shot for include: VOGUE (China, Portugal, Brazil, Italia, Paris and South America & Mexico editions), RG VOGUE Brazil, Harper’s BAZAAR (China, en Español & Latin America, Hong Kong, Italy editions), L’Officiel Paris, ELLE (Spain, Portugal and Greece editions), Madame Figaro (France), Cosmopolitan (France and Italy editions), Glamour (France), Votre Beauté, Jardin des Modes, Dépêche Mode, New York Daily News, Fashion District News, New York Times Magazine, W (British edition), WWD, Fashion Magazine (Canada), Flare (Canada), Oyster, Tank, WestEast…