Dan Smith
When the gales of November come crashing (with apologies to Gordon Lightfoot and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”), one of the very best balms for this seasonal disorder is—you guessed it—chicken soup.
And not just any old Jewish Mother Chicken Soup will do. It needs to be rich, creamy and danged easy to make, something quick and full-bodied.
Oh, do I have a recipe for you!
We’ll call it Mother Smith’s World Famous Cream of Chicken/Rice/and a Bunch of Other Stuff Soup.
Here’s what you need:
- 26 ounce can of cream of chicken soup (store brand works well)
- 5 oz. cubed chicken (breast or otherwise)
- 4 oz. sliced mushrooms
- 4 oz. chopped celery
- ¼ chopped medium onion
- 1 boil-in bag of instant rice (I use brown, ‘cause it’s whole grain and good for you)
- 26 ounces water
- Salt and pepper to taste (probably won’t need salt since canned soup has too much already)
- ¼ tsp. cinnamon
- Salt and pepper to taste (probably won’t need salt with the canned soup)
Put the chopped chicken, celery, onion, rice and water into a pot and boil until it’s done (chicken and rice cooked thoroughly; celery, onions al dente). Place the canned soup and mushrooms in another pot on medium low heat with no additional water.
Combine everything in one pot, add the cinnamon and let it simmer for about half an hour. I like to let it sit overnight (as with any soup), so the flavors combine, but it’s good right now.
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).