After driving six hours with only 1/2 a ‘Lunchables‘ in my tummy, I was hoping for some snacks during our exclusive one hour interview with Rex Pickett, author of “Sideways”.  His reply to our texted request to set us up was, “No.”  However, I did get a nice glass of Pinot Noir and learned that this dude loves to cook.  He submitted this transcendental (his work) chicken soup for our slurping pleasure.  A bowl of this would probably go quite well with those left over crackers from my snack set.

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole Farmers’ Market chicken (3-4 lbs.)
  • 6 carrots (2 roughly chopped; 4 diced)
  • Bundle of celery (2 stalks roughly chopped; 2 diced)
  • 2 large onions (1 roughly chopped; 1 diced)
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • Lots of mushrooms cut into bite-sized pieces
  • Fistful of pea shoots (spinach or other green can be substituted), roughly chopped
  • Olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp ginger, minced
  • The kernels from 1 ear of corn
  • 2/3 cup Basmati rice
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1/2 juice of a lemon (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp cilantro (optional)
  1. Rough chop the carrots, onions and celery, set aside.
  2. Cut the chicken into 7 parts — breasts, thighs, wings, and back (use poultry shears or a good kitchen knife)
  3. Pack the chicken into a Dutch oven — I use a heavy, cast iron risotto pan — and fill with water — no more than a quart — until just covered.  Throw in the carrots, celery and onions. 
  4. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and reduce to a simmer and let go, uncovered, for only 20 minutes. 
  5. During that time, dice the onions, celery, carrots, and red bell pepper, and mince the ginger and garlic.  Also, cut the mushrooms and deracinate the kernels from the ear of corn.
  6. When 20 minutes is up, remove the chicken to a plate to cool.  Strain the resultant stock into a bowl.  Remove the carrots and set aside with the chicken.  Discard onions and celery.  If you have one, pour broth into a fat separator. 
  7. Wash pan, put back on the stove over med. heat.  When the pan’s hot, add olive oil until it gets hot, then add diced onions, celery, bell pepper, and carrots.  Salt and pepper.  Cook for about 7-8 minutes, moving around frequently.  Then add garlic and ginger and go for about 2 minutes
  8. Pour back de-fatted stock.  Add 2/3’s cup Basmati rice.  Turn heat to high.  Bring to a boil, cover, then turn heat down all the way.  Set timer for 10 minutes  Check a few minutes in to make sure it’s simmering and not boiling,  Adjust heat if necessary.
  9. When 10 minutes is up, put the corn and mushrooms in, salt and pepper (yes, again!) and return to a simmer.  Set timer for 5 minutes.
  10. During that 5 minutes, remove the skin from the chicken and shred into bite-sized pieces.  If the chicken still has a bit of rawness, don’t worry.  Rough chop the pea shoots.
  11. When 5 minutes is up, add the shredded chicken (salt and pepper before stirring; yep, that’s right) and the pea shoots.  Bring just to a simmer, then turn the heat off, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes, or even as long as 1/2 hour.
  12. Just before serving, add the juice from the one half of a lemon.  You can also add cilantro if you want and even a drizzle of olive oil if you’re feeling decadent.

 

The infamous Mr. Pickett lounging for the show

 

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