Chef Curtis Gamble: Bread & Wine

This chicken soup with ginger and sage is just the thing for a head cold — and to make your entire kitchen smell divine.

Braising Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on)
1 stalk rough-chopped celery
1 rough-chopped carrot
1 garlic clove, whole
1 bay leaf
Soup Ingredients:
4 braised chicken thighs
1 medium-diced celery stalk
1 medium-diced carrot
1 medium-diced onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp minced fresh sage
1 tbsp thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
½ cup acini de pepe (small dried pasta)
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Chicken Thigh Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Set a heavy-bottomed, oven-safe pot over medium heat and heat until 2 tbsp.of oil lightly smokes.
3. Add chicken thighs, skin-side down, working in batches. Make sure not to crowd the pan.
4. Cook until skin is golden brown. Remove thighs from the pan and reserve.
5. In same pan, lightly cook your carrots, onion, celery, garlic and bay leaf until onion is lightly translucent
6. Add the thighs back into the pan and cover two-thirds of the way with water.
7. Place in preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is braised through. Reserve.

Soup Directions:
1. While braised chicken thighs are still warm, pull meat into small pieces that will fit onto a soup spoon.
2. Reserve skin and slice thin. Strain braising liquid into a medium bowl through a fine mesh strainer and reserve.
3. In a medium-size soup pot, heat two tablespoons of oil until it begins to lightly smoke.
4. Add your celery, carrots and onion, and lightly caramelize. This may take a few minutes, so be patient and let the color develop — more color means more flavor.
5. When vegetables are lightly caramelized, add ginger and garlic and lightly sweat.
6. Add sage, thyme and bay leaf, and cook until translucent.
7. Add reserved braised thigh, skin, and braising liquid.
8. Slowly add water until a soup consistency is achieved.
9. Bring to a simmer and add your acini de pepe. Cook for roughly five minutes and taste. Adjust seasoning with sherry vinegar, salt and pepper.

…and for the soul: “After working long days, I hustle home from the restaurant to hopefully find my wife and pup still up. The thirty minutes I spend perched next to her with our border collie mix curled up in her lap are the most important moments of my day, keeping me grateful for her and the important things I work so hard for.” All together now: awww.

Bread & Wine, 3732 West Irving Park Road (at Ridgeway Avenue); 773-866- 5266.