Courage in the Kitchen

My sister makes a wonderful chicken soup that you should include on your menu during cold weather. It is a perfect example of how to make a soup. When she sent me the recipe, she noted the following: “I really just make it to taste so I have no idea of how much of anything I really use. Same way with the noodles. I just make more or less depending on how many people are eating.” As with all soups, the recipe is an outline. You must fill in the details to create the exact balance of flavors you prefer.

INGREDIENTS FOR SOUP:

3-4 quarts water
1 chicken (2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs.)
1 medium onion
2 or 3 sticks of celery
2 or 3 carrots
1/2 tsp. salt
8 or 10 whole peppercorns
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. sage
1 or 2 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. Pleasoning (or seasoned salt and herbs)

INGREDIENTS FOR NOODLES:

1 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp. salt
Water

PROCEDURE:

Put 3 to 4 quarts of water into an 8 to 12 quart pot and put over high heat. If you buy a whole chicken, rinse and cut it into pieces, and put them in the pot. Otherwise, simply rinse the pieces and drop them into the heating water. Peel and dice the onion into small pieces. Wash the celery sticks and chop them, tops and all. Wash and chop the carrots into thin slices or small cubes, depending on your preference. Add the vegetables to the pot. Add 1/2 tsp. salt and 8 or 10 whole peppercorns. Chop the parsley fine and add it along with the other herbs. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about an hour. The chicken should be done, but not falling apart. While the soup is simmering, make the noodles.

Stir the salt into the flour in a mixing bowl, add the egg and just enough water to make a stiff dough. Mix well. Divide the dough in half and roll out to 1/8 inch thick on a well-floured board. Slice the dough into narrow strips about 1/2 inch wide. Hang the sliced noodles over the edge of the bowl while you roll out and slice the second half of the dough. Hang these noodles as well, or you may wish to let all the noodles dry on a dishtowel.

When the chicken is done, remove it from the broth and put it on an ovenproof platter in a warm oven. Bring the broth to a boil and drop the noodles one by one into the broth. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. Test the noodles just as you would any pasta. If you like, you can remove the skin from the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with a dash of seasoned salt and paprika before serving. Delicious with fresh bread!

NOTES: Pleasoning Gourmet Seasonings are made in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. If you can not find them at your local market, they are available on line. And though the flavor will not be quite the same, you can substitute 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt with dashes of oregano and basil for the Pleasoning.

Families have different ways of celebrating Advent. When I was growing up, one way we celebrated was by getting a Christmas tree. Finding the tree was a man’s job, so each year Dad and I would head into the woods on the first or second Sunday of December.

We would look at thousands of spruce and balsam trees and examine a hundred or more until we found the perfect one. Then we would take it home so we could listen to complaints about bare spots and flat sides.

It was easier to take the criticism if we were eating one of Grandma Rang’s Date Cookies. Baking those was one way my mother celebrated Advent, and they were Dad’s favorite cookie.

They are one of my favorites too. About twenty years ago, the tradition of these cookies was enriched for me by a wonderful lady, Hazel Olson, who gave me a cookie cutter that had belonged to her husband’s grandmother. It is a tinned steel cutter with fluted sides, a tool that was probably made sometime in the middle of the 19th century. The handle is missing and the plating is worn off in a few places, but it works fine and feels good in my hand as I cut the rich dough.

Although you can eat them as soon as they are cool, these cookies are better after they have been stored in a tight container in a cool room for two or three days. They keep fine for as many weeks.

INGREDIENTS FOR DATE FILLING:

1 cup dates

1 cup cold water

1 cup light brown sugar

Dash of salt

2 T flour

PROCEDURE:

Chop the dates fine and put them in a saucepan with the cold water, sugar and salt. Heat to boiling and simmer until dates are tender, about fifteen minutes. Stir frequently. Mix the flour in a quarter cup cold water and stir into the dates. Simmer another five minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and cool before using as filling.

INGREDIENTS FOR COOKIE DOUGH:

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup butter

3 large eggs

4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

PROCEDURE:

Measure the sugar into a large mixing bowl.

Cream the soft butter and sugar together. Beat the eggs until lemon yellow and stir them into the sugar mixture. Add the soda, baking powder and salt to the flour, and sift it into the sugar mixture about one cup at a time, stirring thoroughly between additions. The dough should be very stiff. Add a little more flour if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 350º and grease the baking sheets.

Flour a large breadboard. Take one-third of the dough, work it into a ball, place it on the breadboard, press it into a round pat about one inch thick, and turn it over, making certain that there is plenty of flour on the breadboard. With a well-floured rolling pin, roll the dough to eighth of an inch thickness.

Cut with a three or three and a half-inch round cookie cutter. Put the rounds on a well-greased cookie sheet and put about a heaping teaspoon of date filling in the middle of each. Top with more rounds and seal the edges by pressing them with your fingers. Try not to make the cookie edges too thin.

Bake in a 350º oven until the cookies are lightly browned, about ten to twelve minutes. Cool on wax paper.

NOTES:

My mother’s recipe says to use a scant teaspoon of soda, baking powder and salt. You can replace the butter with oleo or with about a half cup of shortening, but the cookies are not as good. Use a spatula to handle the rounds, as they are very tender. The trimmings can be worked into the next third of the dough without harm.

Although you can eat them as soon as they are cool, these cookies are best after they have been stored in a tight container in a cool room for two or three days. They keep fine for as many weeks.

The photo shows Grandma Rang’s Date-filled Cookies, Grandma Hopp’s Gingerbread Cookies and some Peppernuts.