Today I’m sharing with you a recipe my grandma has been making me for years. This soup is high on my comfort food list. While I don’t think it is a specifically Hungarian recipe, this is a soup that all of my Hungarian family makes. So, you know what? It’s a Hungarian recipe. I’m calling it. Per Hungarian standards, it’s got sour cream and is thickened with a roux. This recipe has obviously been revised a little since its origin, but the inclusion of chicken hearts (and my personal omission of gizzards) tells me, this is an old country recipe. If you have an aversion to chicken hearts, just don’t include them but if you’re feeling adventurous, I promise you will like it!
Ingredients
Boneless Chicken (2-3 breasts or 6 thighs)
12 Chicken Hearts
Oil
2 Carrots
½ Celery Root
2 stalks Celery
2 Heads of Cauliflower
2 Bay Leaves
2 tbsp. Flour
1 tsp. Paprika
1 tbsp. Tarragon
¼ cup Sour Cream
1 tbsp. Vinegar
Small noodles of some kind (optional)
Directions
Dice up your chicken, rinse thoroughly, let it soak in water for about 5 minutes, then drain.
Add just enough oil to coat the bottom of your stock pot and add your chicken and hearts. Once all sides of the chicken start to brown (you don’t need to cook them all the way through), add enough water to your pot to fully cover the chicken. Boil for 1 hour.
Add your carrots and celery root and continue to boil for another 15 minutes.
Generously salt your soup and add a bay leaf. Add more water now to make it look more like a soup. Note: At any time when you’re making soup, if you feel the liquid is getting too low it always is. Add more water if you feel like it! If you add too much water, just let it simmer a little longer and boil off. There’s no wrong answer.
Once it’s boiling, add your celery and cauliflower and continue cooking it.
In a pan, add your oil, flour and paprika and fry for a minute or two. You want to make sure the flour is cooked enough that it doesn’t taste like flour and only acts as a thickener.
Add your roux to the soup, and let it cook in for a few minutes. The goal isn’t for this to turn into a chowdery soup, it’s just to give it a little bit more texture.
Finally, add your tarragon, sour cream and vinegar. Taste and adjust seasoning as you please!
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