What are you cooking today?

Here's the story of Maple Floor Chicken Noodle Soup.

Day 1: The Spatchcocking of the Chicken
I got a nice big fat stewing hen and spatchcocked it. It's like the reverse of butterfly. You take some poultry shears and cut down along one side of the backbone and lay it out flat that way. I patted it dry and placed it on a rack inside a pan. Then I salted the skin liberally and placed it in the bottom of the fridge. Let that skin dry out some.

Day 2: The Roasting of the Chicken
Preheat my oven to 450 F. I removed the chicken from the fridge, gave it a good dose of black pepper and set aside. I got 2 yellow onions and halved them leaving all the skin, paper, everything on. Chicken and onions went into a 14" cast iron skillet and into the oven. 35 minutes or so later, 165 F internal, and out it comes. Let it cool enough to handle and then remove all the meat from the chicken. Deglaze the pan with some red wine. Separate fat from deglazed fond. Store the meat and one container, fat in another container, and the bones, skin, onions and deglazed fond in separate container.

Day 3: The Making of the Stock
Place reserved bones, skin, onions (still with roasted skin) and fond in a stock pot. Add two unpeeled carrots cut into chunks, 3 stalks of celery with leaves cut into chunks, 1 unpeeled parsnip cut into chunks, about 1 dozen large sprigs parsley, the green tops of a fennel bulb, the green tops of carrots, 2 bay leaves and about a dozen peppercorns. Add 3 quarts cold water or more to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and skim any nasty foam off the top and discard. Simmer gently, skimming occasionally until reduced by a third, 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Remove bones, skin and vegetables wit a slotted spoon and strain thru a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Cover and store in fridge.

Day 4: The Making of the Soup
Remove reserved chicken from fridge and pull apart into shreds and bite size chunks. Remove stock from fridge and skim any fat from the top and add to previously reserved fat (schmaltz). Heat 2-3 TBS of the reserved fat in stock pot. Add 3 leeks, trimmed, halved lengthwise, rinsed and sliced crosswise into thin half-moons. Stir to coat, and heat over medium heat until leeks begin to fry. Then reduce the heat to a gentle sizzle and cook, stirring often, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into small dice. Sprinkle with salt, stir, and cover the pot. Cook until vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes more. Do not brown. Pour Stock into pot with vegetables and heat to a simmer. Add shredded chicken and heat thru. Taste and adjust salt.

Bring salted water for noodles to a boil. Only cook enough broad egg noodles or pappardelle to serve immediately. Place noodles in bowl and ladle soup over noodles. Enjoy the best bowl of chicken noodle soup you ever ate.

Drop remainder of soup on kitchen floor.

Weep while cleaning a sea of chicken noodle soup off of your maple hardwood kitchen floor.

Maple is said to have antibacterial quality, which is why cutting boards are made from it. So unlike my pine floors, your maple floors suspend the five second rule, and your soup should be fine.


Seriously, though, I'm sorry that happened after all that work. Too well I know the feeling. They say karma is a bitch but I think gravity is worse.
And great recipe!

That was a lot of work put in to have that happen. Similar stuff has happened to me from time to time, so you have my sincerest sympathy.

They say there's no use crying over spills, but I never seem to feel like doing anything else.

I have planks but never think far enough ahead to soak them before needing them. Pre soaked could be the solution.

So you’re off? Safe travels and have a blast. The boy and I are off to Texas for our hiking trip tomorrow. Have the grilled cuttlefish, you won’t believe it. Go to Il Xampanyet and Cal Pep in Barcelona, trust me.

Sounds delish!

Hope you like them. Sounds a bit strange, but...

it didn't work last night (due to poor oysters) but I will try again.  I've used wheatsworth crackers for breading before, a long time ago.  I think I need to mix the cracker crumbs with some breading flour or cornmeal.

No figs. They are out of season so I substituted nice ripe but firm Bartlett pears. The plum I bought was not what I wanted so I used "plan b", a nectarine, instead. Time ran out on the tortilla but I did add salmorejo (chilled tomato and bread soup with traditional chopped hard boiled egg topping). Add a couple bottles of wine and it was an overall success. I should have used canned tomatoes instead of fresh for the soup. The fresh plum tomatoes are pale and not full flavored yet. I should have let the paella go another 3-4 minutes and get crispier on the bottom.I should have used a fresher Manchego. The aged was good but the texture was too firm. I parboiled and then roasted to potatoes for the patatas bravas instead of deep frying them. Much easier but not as crisp as I would have liked. The garlic/olive oil/paprika slurry that the shrimp were bathed in was the star. Mopping it up with shrimp was only marginally better than mopping it up with bread. The garlic aioli and the fried tomato and onion sauce for the tiny roasted creamer potatoes patatas bravas we excellent. Couldn't find any serrano ham so I went with prosciutto. Melon is a natural so it was refreshing to try with the nectarine. The paella was good but not great. I forgot the fresh thyme and it needed that punch of flavor. Pretty good for a first time tho. The roasted almonds with black sea salt and smoked paprika were awesome. I am going to go snack on some of them now.

Going to fill one suitcase with nothing but smoked paprika

That sounds like a good idea.