spring chicken soup
hi friends, lovers, & people probably related to me —
121 — did a couple of barre class workout videos this week when the weather was crap & now i think i’m a ballerina
chicken soup for the 29 year old soul
does anyone else have a bit of trauma from those chicken soup books? or was i just too anxious growing up? asking for a friend. also still doing soup bc it’s been chilly & i saw cafe hailee crisp up chicken skins for a soup topping on ig and i’ve been itching to try it.
ingredients for the soup
bone-in, skin on chicken thighs
mini gnocchi
chicken broth (or bouillon + water)
1 yellow onion
2 shallots
4 big cloves of garlic
1 serrano
1 bunch of leeks
1 bag of spinach spinach
1 big bunch of scallions
white wine
olive oil
salt & pepper
ingredients for the toppings
scallions (the green tops from earlier)
sour cream
pepper
dill
chicken skins*
steps
1st — i would put on the new vampire weekend album & do some prep like washing & slicing the leeks, the serrano, etc. then in a large dutch oven or other heavy bottom pot add a little bit of olive oil and begin to heat. next take your chicken thighs and season liberally with salt & pepper. add them to the dutch oven (you won’t cook them through just until they are burnished on both sides). remove the chicken thighs and let cool slightly while you add in your shallots, garlic, onions, serrano & leeks to cook in the chicken fat. gently pull the skin off the thighs and set on a parchment lined sheet tray, sprinkle with a little more salt & pepper. take that old bad white wine that’s in the back of the fridge and add a few splash to the pot. cook off and then add back in the chicken thighs and the broth with some salt & pepper
2nd — preheat your oven to 400 and put the chicken skins in there to crisp up. tidy your workspace. slice the scallions (maybe on the bias) because they look fancy, add the whites to the soup & keep the rest for topping. pour yourself a glass of wine & maybe have a little of the good bread with salty butter while the soup hangs out. the chicken skins are definitely done by now so break them up. pull out the chicken & shred the meat. save the bones for stock or don’t. add the chicken back in. think about what movie you want to watch later.
3rd — taste the soup, is it fully melded together, did your serrano turn out to be especially strong? let it hangout a little while longer, you’re not quite hungry yet. just kidding maybe you are a little. add in all the spinach because health, once it’s wilted add the gnocchi when they are tender they will float to the top.
4th— ladle into bowls, top with sour cream, scallions, some dill & the crispy chicken skins. add a good crack of black pepper. eat till you’re full & cozy & watching a league of their own.
particularly good things i consumed recently
the perfect sunday — a quick run, a v. smooth cortado @ 4 letter word, $5 pours @ diversey, & then a nice walk for a late lunch @ gretel: such a consistently great burger
roostock w/ kiera — can’t believe we had never been before. can’t wait to go again. literally a dream bc we also got to walk around the park first & peek @ my new apartment — then we got the best salad of my life that was just crunchy greens & lemon & olive oil & the finely(est) grated parm + the gnocchi with ramps bc spring & definitely the nights’ perfect bite, we devoured it & also the burger. i’m typically a smashburger girl but there is something about a thicker wine bar burger that is so intensely satisfying
dice night w/ some of the gang — that turned into karaoke & me being ridiculously tired on friday. 10/10 would do it again. ryan & i did get some queso @ lonesome before and it was really delicious as always and sustained us through the whole night
spinning j w/ brendan — a sneaky warm sunny morning meant we got to eat our sandwiches outside. i’ve had a lot of breakfast sandwiches & like them all for different reasons but the spinning j one has the best ratios & sometimes the cashier calls you babe
biz coms (business romcoms) — a not quite double feature of pretty woman & working girl, quippy dialogue & phenomenal outfits, perfect for a cozy night in
ashton’s afternoon birthday hang — there were friends, a charcuterie board, honeycomb, potato chips, various dips, wine, cookies shaped like bunnies, actual bunnies, & a lemon cake, all & all a perfect spring afternoon
monday night movie night — we made a lemony herb salmon w/ a beet & carrot & fennel salad w/ ridiculously good goat cheese & watched the town, which is sooooo boston & honestly v. fun. love blake lively trying to be amy adams
catching up w/ kate while i made dinner & she walked her dog then rolled some sourdough — it was v. lovely & i made a single serving of my spicy tomato & roasted red pepper soup, topped with all the nuts pesto & jumbo crispy crunchies (which are like my normal crispy crunchies but bigger bc they have more parm) i ate in front the tv watching a szn 3 episode of law & order #classic
mfk w/ ryan — for a last minute thursday res, felt like i was living inside the diners, drive-ins & dives episode, still thinking about the spanish tortilla & the basque cider.
fried chicken sandwich friday w/ ryan, janel, & mike. did i course everything out? did i make homemade french fries? pickle slaw? were the sandwiches delicious but still need a lil more work before they hit the newsletter / the rotation ? yes to all of the above but i finally nailed my french fry recipe & we had such a good freaking time
come & get it | kiley reid. — v. well written & remarkably uncomfortable, the kind of book where you want to turn away but you can’t. finished the last quarter while having too many cups of coffee on saturday morning which did not help the dread
jess damuck’s health nut talk @ city lit w/ becca — v. nice way to spend a sunny spring afternoon & have some delicious carrot cake, v. excited to read it like a novel & almost as exciting as seeing matty matheson smoking a cigarette in the wild
corned beef saturday — ryan wanted a real homemade corned beef, which I’ve never done before, but i love a project even though i hate directions especially conflicting ones which is what happens when you google best homemade corned beef. so I damp brined it (not a thing, just mixed my dry brine with a lil water so it would stick better. ) then left it the eff alone for a few days. i rinsed off all the brine on saturday morning and brought it to a boil w/ water in a dutch oven and then a simmer, for awhile & then even more for more tenderness & then I made sandwiches (marble seeded rye from the bagel (toasted lightly in butter) supermarket swiss (slightly melted) charred cabbage & red onion, quadruple mustard (ryan’s idea)) & as a side some crispy smashed potatoes w/ malt vinegar aioli & it was so so good. we started with a simple crunchy bright green goddess salad bc i bought too much dill.
currently consuming
a quiet sunday morning, having a cup of coffee, tidying the apartment, going for a run — you know the drill
as always,
mk