I made this soup for my family when they were coming down from Montreal. It's a pretty long haul to drive in one day, so we normally do a light dinner on the first night they are in town. I decided to make a less than traditional chicken a dumpling soup, using sweet potatoes, maple syrup, and my Avenue Spice, which is my take on Montreal seasoning.
For this soup I took a couple of steps as always. I made sweet potato gnocchi to use as dumplings and marinated the chicken overnight. After that I made a sweet creamy chicken broth with tender pieces of flavorful chicken. I used the root vegetables to partially thicken this, as I cooked it down. If you wanted to keep more of the texture of your vegetables, you can thicken the base with roux instead of cooking the cream down and using the starch of the sweet potatoes. I finished the base of this soup by seasoning it a bit more with vinegar and syrup, additionally I added a couple of splashes of hot sauce as well.
This is one of my soups that you finish by cooking more ingredients. Get a nice sear on the dumplings, add some frozen peas, then add your maple chicken cream.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
Chicken Thighs, boneless skinless 4 lbs
Avenue Spice 1 T
Dijon Mustard 1 T
Maple Vinegar* 1 T
Maple Syrup 1 T
Roasted Garlic 1 T
*If you don't have maple vinegar on hand you can add a splash more syrup and use a neutral vinegar like rice wine
Puree all ingredients except the chicken and thoroughly coat the thighs. Keep in your refrigerator for 24 hours.
Soup
Marinated chicken 4 lbs
Water to deglaze
Celery Root, cubed 2 lb
Carrots, peeled and oblique cut 1 lb
Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 lb
Onions, julienned 3 ea
Chicken Stock 2 qt
Heavy Cream 1 qt
Maple Syrup to taste
Maple Vinegar 1/4 cup
Avenue Spice 1 T
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
English Peas 2 cups
Mustard Powder 1 T
Sweet Potato Gnocchi 8-10 per soup
Tarragon 1 stem
Garnish
Cracked black pepper, fresh chives, fresh tarragon
Method of Procedure
Marinate your chicken and prepare your sweet potato gnocchi.
Heat a saute pan and sear your chicken to get color on both sides.
Remove the chicken from heat and de-glaze the pan with water.
Reserve the fond to add to your soup.
In your soup pot saute your onions on medium heat with your Avenue Spice and mustard powder until lightly caramelized.
Dice your chicken and add to the onions along with your reserved fond.
Add your maple syrup and vinegar along with your cream and chicken stock and tarragon.
Bring to a simmer then add your celery root, sweet potatoes, and carrots.
Cook until reduced to your desired texture*.
Season to taste.
In a separate pan saute your sweet potato gnocchi then add your English peas.
Add the amount of soup your are serving and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes.
Serve and garnish with cracked black pepper, fresh chives, and fresh tarragon.
*I used sweet potatoes and celery root to cook down and thicken the soup. If you want to have more texture to your vegetables you can use some roux with the soup to thicken.
Comments