David Chang has a show on PBS called, "The Mind of a Chef", which we recently discovered. This show inspired us to make chicken soup. Danny's favorite soup is Progresso's Chickarina soup which is where we came up with the idea for the chicken meatballs. After collecting and drying all of our herbs we grew this summer we used some of the fresh fennel seed and lemon thyme in these meatballs. Hope you enjoy this on a cold winter day!

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 bunch of carrots
  • 2 white onions
  • 1 Shallot
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 4 celery stalks
  • 1 bunch scallions
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoon lemon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake
  • water for broth
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 package egg chinese noodle
  • 1 cheese cloth
  • green onion for garnish
  • eggs to poach
 

 

Once you have butchered the chicken down save one breast for the meatballs. Put the rest into the pressure cooker. Fill the pot with water just over the chicken. Put the top on. Once the pressure cooker starts whistling cook for 35 minutes.

 

 

Some would say it is nontraditional to cook your vegetables separate from your chicken but Chang tells us that if you cook them separately you are able to choose how sweet you want your broth to be. Chop the carrots, celery, shallots, garlic, onions, and scallions into chunks and put in separate pot.

 

 

Cover the pot and let cook down for an hour. A lot of the liquid will cook off but the broth will be very concentrated.

 

 

While the broths are cooking mince the chicken breast you saved.

 

 

This is our lemon thyme we grew this summer. With our food dehydrator we dried the thyme out. If you can't find this in a store substitute with thyme and lemon peel. We highly recommend using this product though.

 

 

Instead of using kosher salt for this recipe we used our Hickory Smoked Salt.  This salt adds a great subtle smokey flavor to the soup. Add this into the chicken meatballs and the broth.

Once the chicken is minced add the meatball ingredients to the bowl. Add in the soy, panko crumbs, sesame seeds, one egg, Parmesan cheese, fennel, lemon thyme, smoked salt, and red pepper flakes.

 

 

Once everything is mixed together take 1 Tablespoon of the meat and roll into small balls.

Heat the canola oil on medium high and cook balls for 3 minutes. They should be golden brown when done. Set the balls aside until ready for the soup.

At this point your chicken should be ready to release from the pressure cooker. Release the top and continue to simmer the chicken broth for another 25 minutes. While this is cooking season with smoked salt and soy sauce. Once you feel like the broth is ready to eat, strain the chicken through a cheese cloth. Do the same with the vegetables in a different bowl. At this point you need to find the perfect ratio of the broths together. We added about one cup of the vegetable broth into the chicken broth.

 

 

If you can find these at your store use the Chinese noodles. Bring the mixed broth to a boil and cook the noodles for three minutes. Drain from the broth so the noodles do not overcook.

 

 

Put a small amount of noodles in the soup bowl. Bring the broth back to a simmer and add the chicken balls. Bring another pot of water to an almost boil to poach an egg. Spoon the broth with the chicken meatballs over the noodles and add the egg on the top. Garnish with chopped green onions from the scallions.

 

 

Enjoy!!

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