Chicken and Root Veg Soup

     Following up on my recommendation to shop at the farmer's market I thought it would be nice to share a little recipe that I made using some of those ingredients. This recipe is a bit on the unusual side but was very tasty.
     I had roasted some beets and turnips on Saturday for our dinner that night but I also did a batch to keep as leftovers, so for my recipe I used the leftovers, but you could certainly roast the veggies while the chicken is cooking. The beets give the soup a very dark red color which is interesting and visually striking.

While this recipe might seem like a lot of work, it really isn't, and the result is definitely worth it. It is three parts that are all done simultaneously using the down time in each segment to work on the other. Total I think I hade about 30 minutes of hands on time. Total cook time is about 1 hr 20 mins.
Ingredients:

1 chicken (size to suit)
1 lb. large carrots
1/2 bundle of celery
6 medium beets
4-6 small/medium turnips
1 onion
several cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
pepper
about 2 cups red wine
1 tbsp. flour
olive oil for pan
salt
Water or Chicken Broth*

* I used water to cook my chicken and then added some homemade bullion that I made by reducing homemade chicken stock. I just freeze the reduction in icecube trays and then use them when needed. I added some to the chicken water after the chicken was done. If you don't use bullion then I would recommend at least 1/2 of the liquid you cook the chicken in should be chicken stock.

Method:
Before you do anything start your roasted root veg, 35-40 minutes at 425 should do the trick. I like to toss all the chunks in olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano. You can do this step a day in advance if you would like, and I actually recommend it.

1. Fill a good size stock pot about halfway full of water or chicken stock and put on high heat. Add a dash of salt to the water and then place your chicken in the water (be sure to remove the giblets).  Add water to the top of the chicken and then add 1 cup of red wine, a bay leaf, and 2-3 cloves of smashed garlic. Cover and adjust to simmer for 1 hr.

Chicken in the pot. Simmer for 1 hr. This is the same way you typically start chicken and dumplings, just minus the wine. 

2. While the chicken is simmering dice 1-2 carrots, 1 stalk of celery, and 1 onion.
3. Add olive oil to a hot frying pan and sweat the carrots, onion, and celery for several minutes until the onions start to caramelize.
4. Deglaze with the remaining 1 cup of read wine and reduce by about 1/2. Set this mixture aside.

Set these cooked veggies aside, We will be back for them when we make the rue.

5. Add the giblets to a small amount of water(2-3cups) and season with a pinch of  salt and pepper. Simmer until the chicken is done.

6. Remove the cooked chicken and set aside to cool.Once cool, pull all the meat off the bones and set the meat aside

7. Grab that cooked vegetable mixture and heat it back up in the frying pan. Add the liquid from the giblets(should be reduced to about 1 cup by now) and bring to a boil.
8. Slowly add flour to the mixture stirring the whole time. Just like making a gravy but we are going to keep cooking beyond that to make an intermediate between a rue and a gravy. Once the mixture has thickened to about pudding consistency cut the heat.
9. Add the rue to the stockpot using a little of the broth to get all the good bits off of the pan.

The remaining celery and carrots should be good size chunks for heartiness and Texture

10. Add the remainder of the roughly chopped carrots and celery, the roasted root veg, and the chicken meat. Taste now and add salt/pepper to suit your taste(remember the stock was seasoned and so were the root veg so you really shouldn't need more now).
11. Stir everything together and let it barely simmer for about 10 minutes while everything comes together.

Serve and enjoy.