Chicken soup etc.

The rice, kreplach, and carrots were all experiments that turned out great. The green beans were just leftover from yesterday. The recipe for the kreplach is here. Chicken soup: Bring a quart of chicken stock and one chicken leg or breast quarter to a simmer. cook for 45 monutes to an hour. Remove the chicken and bones to a bowl, strain the broth, remove the meat from the chicken bones,and return the broth and the meat back to the original saucepan. You can simmer a cut up carrot or two in the soup while you finish assembling the rest of dinner (and/or finish the kreplach/kneidlach if you've made them in the soup, after par-boiling them for about 10 minutes.).salt and pepper to taste. Glazed carrots: peel 5 medium carrots,cut them into quarters lengthwise, and cut 2 to 3 inch strips from them. put in a single layer in a frying pan with: 1.5 Tb butter 1.5 Tb brown sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp molasses 1/3 cup chicken stock or water a pinch of pepper bring to a simmer over medium heat, turn down to medium low, and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes. uncover, and cook for a few minutes to reduce the glaze. before serving, stir in 1 tsp dried mint (or 1 TB fresh minced) Happy Rice: Defrost 1 cup of frozen peas in a colander or strainer. Set aside. Heat 1.5 Tb oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Have about 3 cups of shrimp stock, hot and almost boiling, ready with a ladle on a burner on the stove. Mince a small onion, add it to the saucepan, and when it has softened a bit, add 2/3 of a cup of diced ham and 1/2 tsp ground fennel. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often. Stir in 1 cup of rice (I used ordinary long-grain white rice. I'm not sure if you can cook brown rice like this, but I think I am going to try some time...), and cook for a minute or so, making sure all the grains of rice get coated with oil. turn the heat to low, and add the shrimp stock to the rice gradually, 3/4 of a cup or so at a time.when the rice is almost completely cooked, crumble about a 1/4 tsp of saffron threads into the rice with your fingers. Stir in the defrosted peas and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, remove from the heat and cover until serving. Some minced parsley would probably be nice with this, but I don't have any today. The rice is a total keeper. I think I have some dried shrimp somewhere that I could use to make some more shrimp stock.