Chicken soup delivers comfort on chilly autumn days

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - One of my fondest memories when visiting my grandparents was the aroma that wafted from their kitchen. Usually on weekends when we were visiting, my grandmother would make chicken stock using leftover chicken carcass. She would fill a large stockpot with water and seasonings and add chunks of onion, celery, carrot and parsley, and the stock would simmer for most of the day.

Most busy schedules don’t permit us to go through the process of preparing chicken stock. Whether it’s chicken, beef or vegetable, stock is the important foundation for delicious soup. One of my favorite brands, Imagine (available in major health-oriented grocery stores nationwide), produces a rich, delicious chicken broth. This recipe is an adaptation from the soup my grandmother often prepared for our family. My siblings still talk about my grandmother’s chicken soup with cornmeal dumplings. It is the soft dumplings that dub this soup pure comfort food.

Pure comfort chicken soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 skinned, boned chicken breasts

2 cans low fat chicken broth

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup celery, thinly sliced

1/4 cup parsley, minced

Salt, pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat olive oil over moderate heat and saute onion until translucent. Add chicken and broth, bring mixture to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer, cook for 15 minutes. Remove chicken breasts. When cool enough to handle, cut into bite-size pieces. Return chicken to pot, add carrots, celery and parsley, season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Serves 4.

Nutritional analysis: 395 calories, 20 grams total fat, 5 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 100 mgs cholesterol, 530 mgs sodium, 15 grams total carbohydrate, 2 grams dietary fiber, 37 grams protein, 7 grams sugar

Dumplings

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/8 cup water

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 egg, lightly beaten

Fill a large pot with about 2 quarts of water. Bring water to a boil, lower heat; keep water simmering (the water should be dancing) while you prepare the dumplings.

In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Whisk in water, olive oil and egg. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Add dumplings one at a time to simmering water. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon. Ladle soup into bowls; top each soup bowl with 4 dumplings.

Nutritional analysis: 253 calories, 5 grams total fat, 1 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 53 mgs cholesterol, 44 mgs sodium, 44 grams total carbohydrate, 2 grams dietary fiber, 6 grams protein, 1 gram sugar.

Kerry Dunnington, food columnist and author of “This Book Cooks,” is passionate about food that reflects the season, nutrition, color, balance, texture and variety. Catch her column biweekly in Healthy Life. She can be reached at thisbookcooks@verizon.net.