This is a wonderful soup where everything is done from scratch so it’s a little bit of trouble, but it’s more than worth it.  We call this Paris soup because we were staying by Paris for a month with the family a couple years ago and this is a soup I made while we were there.  And since it’s not an official soup I learned anywhere, we decided to call it Paris soup.  If you get to make this then you’ll discover how truly fabulous it is.  It’s basically a chicken noodle soup only it’s got highly concentrated stock, and it’s thickened.  Actually this soup is an adaptation of a classic French sauce called Sauce Supreme.  It’s a veloute sauce with cream and mushrooms.  So this soup is really just kind of a sauce Supreme with chicken and veggies and pasta.  And again, it’s well worth the trouble.

Ingredients:

For the Stock:

6 whole frying chickens, to learn how to bone them for stock go here: http://www.midnightdba.com/MidnightChef/?p=134
2 gallons of water
1/2 head of celery, bunch of celery if that’s what you call it
1 lb. Carrots
5 cloves
10 bay leaves
2 T dried thyme
2 T peppercorns
4 heads of garlic
1 small bunch of parsley stems or leaves (optional)
Mushroom stems, as many as you have or as you like. (optional)

For the Soup:

1 package of a small pasta like macaroni, or shells, or trumpets, or any small shape you like.
Cooked thigh meat from 6 chickens. I prefer thigh meat because breast is too easily dried out in soup. Dark meat holds up much better.
6 carrots, grated
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 pint heavy cream
1 package of brown or button mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 c. Fresh parsley (optional), finely chopped
1/4 c. Fresh basil (optional), finely chopped
Fresh lemon juice (optional), Do this to taste. I have no idea how much you’d like.

Roux:

1 c. Fat. This fat can be either the chicken fat from roasting the bones or it could be butter.
1c. Flour

Method:

Since the method is rather involved I’ll rely on the video for the precise instructions and I’ll just give an overview here.

1. Roast the bones and make stock with them.
2. Reduce the stock by half to concentrate the flavor.
3. Add the shredded carrots, finely diced mushrooms, finely diced onions, thyme to the reduced stock and cook until all are al dente.  This will probably take 5-10mins at a very mild simmer.
4. Add the cream, and chicken.
5. Thicken with the roux and bring to boil.  Boil for 5 mins to cook the starch out of the flour.  You don’t want a starchy soup, right?  Add enough roux to thicken the soup to nappe.  It’s hard to say exactly how much it’ll take but it shouldn’t be terribly thick.  You’re not trying to make a gravy, just a slightly thickened soup.
6. Finally, add the cooked pasta, parsley, basil and lemon as you desire.

Notes:

1. You can put more veggies in the soup if you like.  Celery, zucchini, corn, asparagus tips, white beans, finely diced potatoes, etc are all lovely additions.
2. Also feel free to make it as thick or not as you want.  This is lovely when it’s thick enough to cling to the chicken and the pasta.  It makes it a slightly heartier soup than a regular chicken noodle.  Though with the soup base reduced as much as it has been it would also make a very lovely regular chicken soup without any cream or thickening.
3. The extra garlic in the stock gives the stock a lovey undertone.  This isn’t an accident.
4. I prefer more mushrooms than most.  I think it gives the soup a meatier feel and of course I just love mushroom so it almost makes it a light mushroom soup sometimes when I make it.  Just wonderful.

Ok, that’s it for now on Paris Soup.  I doubt many of you will venture down the road of doing all that it takes, but I mainly made this to document it for my kids so they can make it one day if they like.  If you do go down this road, then leave a comment here cause I’d love to hear how it came out.