Explore. Cook. Eat.

On Sunday I decided to make a roast chicken. I decided this a week ago. So all week I have been picturing this perfect roast chicken I was going to make for a Sunday dinner.  I searched different recipes that I wanted to try and I finally settled on this one from Tyler Florence from the Food Network.

This post is not about how wonderful this Chicken turned out (even though I dreamed for a week about what it would look like). This chicken turned out to be a complete failure.

I followed the directions to a T (unlike usual for me with a recipe) because I had only roasted a chicken once before and it came out so-so. This time I wanted it to be crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.  I cooked it to the temperature that it suggested and put my thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh and it read 169 degrees, 4 degrees over the recommended 165 for a cooked chicken in the recipe. Oh no I thought, better get this bird out of the oven before it over cooks!

I even made the gravy, and it tasted wonderful. I really have never tasted homemade gravy so good. And I am sorry to those of you reading this blog whose gravy I have eaten in the past, its not that my talent in gravy making is superior to yours, its that this recipe really renders a fantastic gravy.

I put everything out onto the table. This night we would sit at the kitchen table and eat like civilized people instead of at the coffee table in front of the television. It looked beautiful with the bird I pictured in my head as the center piece. Then we cut into it…

…it was still raw in the middle! What?!?! I did everything right. How could this be? Ben and I picked at a couple of pieces of cooked juicy breast, but most of the chicken was really uneatable. I was so upset, dinner was ruined.

While I sat there and contemplated what to do, I thought about how I was going to boil the bones afterwords to make stock, and I thought, maybe I’ll just make some soup instead since most of the meat was still intact.

After a phone call to Ben’s mother (thanks Julia) for some advice about how to boil the chicken. I looked at what ingredients I had in my kitchen. There was about a cup of white/wild rice mix from Thanksgiving that I was probably never going to use. I had some onion, carrots, and mushrooms. So I thought maybe I’ll do chicken and wild rice soup.

Now, about the only chicken and wild rice soup I have ever eaten is from Panera Bread, and that is my favorite soup there. But I have never boiled a chicken, and I have never made any type of chicken soup myself.

But this is what this post is about. How I made the most fantastic, mouth watering, and wonderful chicken and wild rice soup from a failed roasted chicken.

Here’s what you’ll need

• 1 whole 3-5lb chicken, cooked or not (mine was half way) and as much meat as you have left on it.
• about 1/2 an onion chopped. And one onion in large chunks.
  
• about a cup of carrots
• about 80z of mushrooms
• about a cup of  white/wild rice mix
• 4 cloves garlic
• fresh oregano, thyme, and parsley chopped. Maybe a tablespoon a piece  (I have no idea what made it into the soup because mine was already on the bird)
• 6-7 cups water
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

First you put your chicken and the onion chunks in the pot (I actually added everything that was stuffed in the bird except the orange from the original recipe), cover it with water, and boil it until it’s cooked. If its already cooked, a 1/2 hour will do just fine. If not, it may take longer. Let it cool and drain the chicken from the liquid (SAVE THE LIQUID! THIS IS YOUR STOCK!!!!) and when the chicken is cooled pick all the meat off the bird. Then you can discard it and the onion.

When you are ready to make the soup. Add some olive oil to the pot over medium-high heat and cook the onions, carrots, garlic, and mushrooms until tender, about 5 minutes. Then add your stock  (mine was about 6.5 cups), rice, chicken and herbs, salt and pepper. Let the liquid boil then cover and reduce the heat to low for 45 minutes. The picture below illustrates my final product.

So at about 10pm on Sunday night. I finally finished dinner attempt number two. Wow, it was worth the wait. What was once an underdone disaster turned into the best soup I have ever made, ever! Now I only hope you, and myself can reattempt this accidental masterpiece.

What are some meal time disasters you have had in the kitchen? Were you able to salvage the dish? Let me know in the comments below. And enjoy the happy accidents in life.