A cold easterly wind pelted my face with icy snow crystals as I ducked into our local food market on a cold winter day in late January 2024. I was there to collect the makings for evening dinner. At this time of the year, post holiday, one seeks out, culinary inspiration, as well as price control. The inflationary spiral of the last few years has had its impact on our meat, fish and other food choices. The butcher in this market has been attempting to offer products that do not break his customer’s food budget. Consequently he has been regularly displaying cheaper cuts of meat. And recently, even unusual parts of chicken, generally the less expensive protein source, has appeared in different forms as well. Today, one can buy chicken backs, chicken hearts, chicken necks, gizzards, and yes chicken liver too. This may explain why those little packages of giblets formerly tucked into the neck cavity of a whole fresh chicken in past days is often missing in more recent times My mom would have been very disappointed at the absence of these parts which she considered essential for complete nutrition.
I perused my way down the aisle from whole fowls, (mature soup chickens), whole roaster, smaller fryers, spatchcocked fryers, split fryers, half a fryer, all legs, all wings, all feet (said to make a superior soup), livers, gizzards, chicken hearts only, chicken backs, and just necks. The only part that appeared missing was chicken head and their feathers. I wondered where they wound up?
A pound package of chicken necks looked very appealing. At $3.50 per pound, they also seemed a good buy. The necks were meaty and almost fat free—though of course there is a lot of bone in a neck. Somehow, these meaty looking cylinders generated a vision a an appealing hot steaming bowl of chicken soup, rich with chicken flavor. Though I did feel the need for a a more robust substantial protein source too, so I added a package of the split chicken breasts. They were three pieces for $7.88.
That same day the adjoining vegetable market provided a fresh, green and white head of escarole. Escarole is an ancient crop native to Sicily. Popular in ancinet Rome and was grown in England in Queen Elizabeth I time. It is grown extensively to this day in France, Italy and Spain.
This popular Italian “green” is a form of broad leaved endive, Chicorium endiva. And the Chicory group includes the bitter pointy leaved chicory, the red-colored radicchio (looks like a small red cabbage), and the salad favorite, Belgian endive. Escarole or “scarola” is a popular Italian green. The outter leaves are used as a cooked green (like spinach) while the inner leaves, much like Belgian endive, are often used in a salad. Escarole cost $1.99 per pound.
At the check out I assured the young lady at the counter that the chicken necks were for my cat.
“Yeah,” she said, “we sell a lot of those necks, gizzards and other chicken parts. Everybody seems to have a cat these days.”
“Yes”, I added. ”My cat loves them. I try to keep her well fed.”
In the kitchen, I put the pound of chicken necks into a five quart pot and added about four quarts of water. As the pot heated on the stove, I cut up one large carrot, into 1/4 inch cubes, and added that to the pot. I followed that with a large onion, chopped; a quarter cup of parsley, chopped; and a cup of celery cut up fine. Finally two tablespoons of Italian tomato paste, (mixed with liquid from the pot), and about a half teaspoon of black pepper ground directly over the pot as well as a pinch of salt. I set the pot on simmer. And then I added one of the split chicken breasts to the pot, which will serve as the meat element in the final preparation.
The “soup phase” requires about an hour of steady simmering. I left the pot bubbling away quietly and did some other chores.
About an hour later I returned.
I attended to the escarole. The “scarola” or escarole I used here was, as usual, specked with a film of fine dark sand. It needed several washes to remove the grit. I coarsely chopped these large leaves. I used all of the green and white outer leaves, and left the interior blanched leaves for use at a later time as a salad green..
In a large fry pan on high heat, I added a glug of EVO oil and one large garlic clove chopped fine. When the garlic began to turn fragrant and golden, I dumped in the batch of chopped escarole. The wet leaves spatter the oil. It is well to place a cover on the pan and turn the heat down to medium at this point. I let the greens simmer for three to four minutes, then removing the cover, I tossed the greens and added a pinch of salt, and pepper. Placing the cover back on the pan, I permitted the escarole to cook until it tested as tender. Testing is necessary to avoid overcooking.. When done I set the greens aside and held them on the warming ring of the stove.
Fideo noodles are a common Spanish style pasta which look like Itailan “Spaghetti fini” or Angel Hair pasta broken into one inch lengths. I weiged out four ounces of Fideo pasta (for two servings)and added them to a sauce pan with about two cups of the freshly made chicken soup . I permitted some of the vegetables from the soup into the pot. The Fideo pasta should be cooked to the “al dente” stage.
I removed the chicken breast from the soup and cut away the adhering bones. The moist, steaming breast meat was cut up into one inch size pieces and kept warm.
I heated two soup plates in the oven. When warm I removed them and added one half of the cooked pasta (with some of the cooked vegetables) into the bottom of the heated plates. The pasta was topped with a layer of the warmed escarole. This was topped with the chunks of still hot chicken breast. Then a ladle of steaming hot chicken soup was poured over all and dressed with a sprig of Italian parsley.
At the table, a a final topping of finely grated Parmesan cheese finished the Fideo soup bowl
This is a fine “one bowl” dish for a cold winter evening. It has plenty of protein, fiber and nutrients.
