Last week’s soup, which hasn’t actually been written up yet on account of my being very, very busy, was a variant on Hungarian Goulash, made with cabbage and ground beef. Comments ranged from “fabulous” to “edible,” depending on where a spicy goulash fell in my test crew’s comfort zones. I liked it pretty well, but ground beef will never replace chuck for goulash.

To follow up I promised a soup that should fall in the center of everyone’s comfort zone; Chicken and Rice, made from one of those roasted chickens you find by the checkout at the supermarket.

Since I’ve been traveling during the week and spending all weekend in class for the last two weeks, that fit my schedule perfectly. Sunday night I could have a low stress dinner with my gal, and leftover bones  and bits could go into making stock, while the extra meat got split up between lunches and soup.

Making the soup was straightforward, and though I’m too tired right now to make it look like a recipe, here’s how it went.

• First, I sauteed up a cup of chopped onion, a cup of carrots, and a cup of celery in a little oil until the onions were soft.
• I put them in the stock pot and added two quarts of water and brought it to a simmer.
• After stripping the carcass of most of the good meat, I added it to the stock, as well as
• a generous tablespoon of Better Than Bullion Low Sodium Chicken Base
• I added a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of sage and a larger pinch of rosemary to the stock
• Covered, simmered for half an hour and strained the stock out using my mesh strainer.
• I did save out the carrots, but threw the rest away
• I brought the stock back to a simmer and
• added a cup of dry rice (Nashiki)
• which I cooked for 20 minutes.
• I added a cup of celery, and a cup of the chicken, chopped coarsely
• and cooked that for another five minutes before adding in the cooked carrots.
• That’s pretty much it, except for some adjusting to the seasoning at the end…and I should have added more salt.