Mama Leone's Chicken Soup

One of my workmates has been raving about the chicken soup at Café Yumm!. I usually go for a standard Yum Bowl (which Carla and I like so much we make at home every couple of weeks) but when the soup was available on the menu, I ordered a small bowl. It was Yummy for sure and I set out trying to find the recipe. A search for Mama Leone's Chicken Soup revealed a very similar soup on food.com from Elephant Deli. I think both companies are local and I thought maybe they shared, so I tried.

Here is my recipe with notes. I substituted chicken thighs for breasts.

It has a pretty basic set of ingredients.

Most of the line up. The butter was shy and stayed in the fridge.

Ready for the pan.

After sautéing the onions and celery in a combination of butter and cooking olive oil (not EVO) I added the aromatics and garlic. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of flour at that point. I thought that was a a lot and worried how I'd toast the flour enough without burning it 

Flour toasting with the onion, celery, and spices.

As it simmered, a skin formed on top like a pudding in the refrigerator. I had to continually skim that off. I think it was because of the high amount of flour. It tasted pretty good but you could definitely taste that flour.

Dinner is served

It's definitely very similar to the Café Yum recipe.

When I spooned some out of the container for lunch today, it again had the consistency of pudding. But it thinned out during warming. I think next time I'll cut the flour down to 1/4 cup. I may even try making the base like I do for Gumbo where I cook the roux in the oven and then add the onion, celery, and what-not. I think I'll also add an additional chicken thigh.

I used the remainder of my home made chicken stock so decided to make another batch at the same time as I cooked the soup. I highly recommend you use home made chicken stock for this, or any recipe that calls for chicken stock. It's ridiculously easy to make and there is a world of difference compared to even the best canned chicken broth. Looking back I see I have a posting on the Cook's Illustrated stock which is more involved than it needs to be. I'll blog on my new way of making chicken stock soon. In the meantime, check in with Dad Cooks Dinner.

The kitchen ended up an unholy mess. Carla was out hiking with a friend so I had to do the dishes.

Remains of the day.