Category: American Recipes

Traditional American family recipes from around the U.S.A. and beyond!

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Shipping Once, Sipping Twice: a child’s memory of chicken soup brought to life

Chicken Soup from Maurice Sendak

Shipping once sipping twice when I first encountered Maurice Sendak’s Timeless book of months, chicken soup with rice, as a child.

I had an almost visceral sense of exactly how the chicken soup should taste. This recipe speaks to that almost iconic version of the soup. Serve it hot, in mugs after ice skating, or in a bowl with butter toast on the side on a rainy afternoon in Seattle.

Makes about six servings.

  • One 4 lb chicken
  • 8 cups of water
  • Two tablespoons salt (the note lowers this to one tbsp.)
  • Two bay leaves
  • One medium onion peeled and thinly sliced
  • One celery heart with leaves sliced
  • two carrots, peeled and sliced.
  • 1/3 cup long grain rice (this is what’s noted, the original recipe probably called for more. Cooking rice in soup can be tricky which is why they probably lowered it)
  • Two tablespoons chopped parsley
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • A pinch a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg, optional.
  1. point one in a soup pot over High heat, bring the chicken and water, salt and bay leaves to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 45 minutes.
  2. With a sturdy pair of tongs, pull the chicken out of the pot and put it in a pan or a bowl. Gently break the chicken into three or four pieces and allow it to cool.
  3. Meanwhile, put the onion, celery, carrots, and rice into the broth in which the chicken was cooked. Simmer the soup gently until the grains of rice are fully cooked and tender, 30 to 45 minutes. .
  4. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull off all the meat and put it in the pot with the broth and vegetables. Stir in the parsley, pepper. and, if desired, the nutmeg

Copyright, Greg Atkinson, 2006

Ellie, Stephen, Joyanne

“This is a fantastic recipe that I got from Stephen Sloan 20-years ago and thought I’d share.” – Joyanne Sloan

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CHILE CON QUESO DIP

CHILE CON QUESO DIP Recipe
  • 1 large onion, minced
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 4 Tbsp. butter or margarine
  • 1 large can tomatoes (1 lb. 13 oz.)
  • 1 can chopped chiles (4 oz.)
  • 2 Tbsp. flour
  • 1 c. evaporated milk
  • salt, Tabasco sauce
  • 1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

In medium pan, melt 2 Tbsp. of the butter; saute onion and garlic til soft but not brown. Add tomatoes (broken up into small chunks), and simmer til thick. Stir in chiles.

In a smaller saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp. butter; whisk in flour, then evaporated milk. Cook sauce til thickened; add to tomato mixture. Season to taste with salt and Tabasco.

Shortly before serving, stir in cheese til melted. Add more salt and/or Tabasco if needed. Serve with tortilla chips. This dip is best when kept hot in a chafing dish or on a hot tray.

“Many of you may remember my mother’s famous chili con queso dip that she would regularly bring to parties in a chafing dish! Anyway I thought to share it with the whole family if you are looking for a crowd-pleasing recipe. I was going through my old recipes and found this and it is a wonderful thing to remember her by and her typing it up on her IBM selectric typewriter. The clickety clack is such a sweet memory of my mom.” – Joyanne Sloan

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Ellen’s Hot Rolls for Thanksgiving

Ellen Mills & Aicha Katherine

Notes

I usually halve this recipe unless it’s a huge group.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups warm milk (warmer than room temp, but not so hot that it’s too hot to touch)
  • Add 2 packages of dry yeast
  • 5 – 6 cups of flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup butter or Crisco cut into small pieces
  • 2 tsp salt

Instructions

  • The basic recipe uses Fleischman’s Active Dry Yeast (original, not the rapid rise, different instructions if using Rapid Rise)
  • Mix together in a warm room
  • 4 cups warm milk (warmer than room temp, but not so hot that it’s too hot to touch)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup butter or Crisco cut into small pieces
  • Add 2 packages of dry yeast. Let it sit for 15 minutes. It should be bubbly and growing. If it’s flat, throw out and start over. If it’s slow to grow, put it in a warmer area like the top of the stove and give it more time.
  • Add 5-6 cups of flour.
  • Knead 10 minutes on a cutting board with more flour added if it gets too sticky.
  • Let it rise in a warm area until it has doubled in size. Punch down. If cooking later, cover dough lightly with oil, cover in plastic or material to prevent it from forming crust, and refrigerate. Can last 48 hours in the fridge.
  • Place dough in round balls touching each other on an ungreased baking sheet. Cook for 14 minutes at 400 degrees (for rolls a bit smaller than a golf ball – more time for larger rolls).