Pressure cooker chicken soup

Last week I happened to catch a part of Dr Oz. He was exploring health myths. One of them had to do with the efficacy of using chicken soup during a cold. His conclusion? Not a myth- chicken soup really does help. Last week, I caught a cold from my daughter. Ugh. So out came the chicken from the freezer (they were on sale at Whole Foods the week prior- so I bought two) and down came the pressure cooker... I pulled this recipe from the internet- the Boston.com site. I have adapted it below.


Pressure-cooker chicken soup
Serves 6
6 carrots (leave whole)
2 medium onions, chopped
6 stalks fresh parsley 
3 celery stalks- top with the greens
1 bay leaf
4 peppercorns
1 chicken (3 1/2 pounds), cut in half (you could do quarters if it fits better in your pressure cooker)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
12 cups water (or as much as you can safely put into your pressure cooker)


1. In a pressure cooker, lay the carrots, onions, parsnip, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns in the bottom. Add the chicken pieces with the neck and gizzard, extra breasts, and salt. Pour in the water.
2. Lock the lid and set over high heat to bring the pressure up. Adjust the heat to maintain medium pressure and cook for 15 minutes exactly. (Important: do not leave the kitchen while the pressure cooker is on; modern cookers are perfectly safe, but you still need to babysit.)
3. Let the pressure cooker sit for 5 minutes. Carefully carry the cooker to the sink and run very cold water onto the top to bring the pressure down. You'll hear the valve make a big sigh. When it's safe to remove the lid, lift it off.
4. Let the soup cool for 20 minutes. With tongs, transfer the chicken to a large bowl. Put the vegetables into one container, tip the broth into another. Discard the parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Let everything cool.
5. Refrigerate the broth. Remove the meat from the chicken bones and transfer the meat to the vegetables. Refrigerate.
6. Remove the fat from the broth. Tip the broth into a soup pot. Add the vegetables and chicken. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Adapted from "The Way We Cook"

**Oops. Forgot to take a photo. Tasted good. I still have the cold.