Debbie Quinn has a lifelong love of food and cooking, nurtured in her parents’ restaurants and in her own family’s kitchen. Every fortnight she shares her passion and expertise with our readers, bringing her best recipes, tips and tricks to the table.
The weather is getting cooler, and we are looking for something fresh and wholesome to warm us up. This is a great soup, full of beautiful fresh herbs and vegetables, and it has a wonderful tangy brightness from the lovely fresh lemon and dill flavours.
Ingredients
1 x 1.3kg (approx.) whole chicken
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp Massel chicken stock powder
1 tbsp Vegeta gourmet seasoning powder
½ bunch fresh dill roughly chopped — use the other half for garnishing
5 celery sticks, strings removed. 1 chopped into large chunks and 4 finely sliced
6 spring onions, 2 roughly chopped, 4 finely sliced
1 leek, cut in half, washed and finely sliced
⅔ cup olive oil
¾ cup medium-grain rice
2 eggs
⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 bunch baby spinach
Optional: Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to garnish
Method
Cover the outside of chicken with 1 tbsp each of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix together the roughly chopped spring onion, celery chunks and half the chopped dill, and stuff into the cavity of the chicken.
Fill a large saucepan with 4 litres of water, enough to just cover the chicken, and season with 1 tbsp of salt. Bring to the boil.
Once the water has boiled, gently lower the chicken into the boiling water. Add the oil, remaining finely sliced celery, dill, leek and spring onions. Add the Massel chicken stock and Vegeta seasoning. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook the chicken for 45 minutes, basting the top of the chicken with the liquid as it cooks.
Remove the chicken from the saucepan and set aside to cool. Add the rice to the simmering stock and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Gently remove the meat from the chicken (discard the skin and bones) and cut into medium pieces and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with electric beaters, then gradually pour in the lemon juice, whisking as you go. Gradually add 6 ladles of the soup stock and continue to whisk until light and fluffy. Pour the lemon-egg mixture into the soup, stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes. Return the chicken to the soup along with the chopped baby spinach and gently heat through.
Serve with extra dill, freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated Parmesan cheese if desired.
Deb’s tips
If you have a larger chicken, you can still cook it for the same amount of time. I find that if the chicken is a bit underdone rather than overdone, once it has been chopped and is put back into the soup to heat through it will cook perfectly and will be lovely and moist, not dry or overcooked.
Four litres of water works well with this recipe. If you add too much water it dilutes the flavour of the soup. If the chicken isn’t fully covered, don’t worry, just baste the chicken with the stock as it is cooking and place a lid slightly ajar over the pan. This will create steam around the chicken, and the top of the chicken will cook through.
The method of gradually whisking the eggs, lemon and soup together separately gives the soup a silky texture. The rice in the stock, once whisked with the egg and lemon juice, thickens the soup and is just delicious. It’s a bit of an unusual method but it works beautifully.
Once the chicken is cooked you can add the cooked herbs and vegetables from the cavity back into the soup for added flavour, if you like.