Brazilian Chicken Rice Soup

Serves:

Ingredients:

1 3 lb. Chicken
1 Bay leaf
1 Medium onion, quartered
1 Whole clove
2 Ripe tomatoes, quartered
1 Carrot, cut into 1" pieces
1/4 c Chopped celery leaves
20 Black peppercorns, tied in
A piece of cheesecloth
1/2 c Uncooked white rice
Salt & freshly ground black
Pepper
3 Carrots, thinly sliced on
The diagonal
1/4 c Finely chopped flat-leaf
Parsley

Method:

1.
Wash the chicken thoroughly.
Remove the skin and any pieces of fat.
Pin the bay leaf to 1 onion quarter with the clove.
Place the chicken in a large pot with the tomatoes, onion quarters, 1 carrot, celery leaves, and peppercorn bundle.
Add 10 cups cold water and bring to a boil.
Using a ladle, skim off the fat and foam that rise to the surface.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour, skimming often to remove the fat.
2.
Remove the chicken from the broth and let cool.
Strain the broth into a large saucepan, pressing the vegetables to extract the juices.
(There should be about 8 cups of broth.
) Pull the chicken meat off the bones and shred or finely dice it.
3.
Add the rice, salt, and pepper to the broth and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the thinly sliced carrots and celery to the soup with the shredded chicken and half the parsley.
Simmer the soup for another 10 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
Correct the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve at once.