Chicken Velvet Soup

Servings: 8
Ingredients:

1    Chicken (about 5 pounds)
2 1/2 qt Water
SOUP
3/4 c  Butter (room temperature)
3/4 c  Flour
2 c  Light cream (OR
-half-and-half)
6 c  Chicken stock, heated
1 1/2 c  Cooked chicken breast,
-finely chopped
Salt, to taste, if desired
Freshly ground black pepper,
-to taste
1 c  Fresh parsley, snipped, to
-garnish

STOCK

BROTH: Simmer the chicken for about 1 hour. Remove the chicken and cool;
remove the meat from the bones. Reserve the white meat and save the
remainder for other uses.

SOUP: Blend the butter and flour together in a medium (3-quart) saucepan.
Warm the cream in a seperate pan. Add the warmed cream to the butter-flour
mixture and stir until smooth. It will start to thicken when it is heated.
Stir in two cups of the hot stock. Cook over low heat, stirring, until
heated through and blended, about 4 minutes. Add an additional 4 cups of
stock and the chopped chicken. Season to taste with salt, if desired, and
pepper. Heat to serving temperature–steaming, but not boiling or the
cream will break. Watch the pot closely to keep from coming to a boil.

SERVICE: Serve from a heated tureen and ladle into heated bowls. Garnish
with snippets of fresh parsley. Servings: About 8 servings.

[[ THE COMPLETE BOOK OF SOUPS AND STEWS: Bernard Clayton, Jr.: Simon and
Shuster; 1984 ]]