Chicken soup with Ginger and Fennel

Total comfort food! It has mild hints of ginger and fennel - it's mostly silky smooth and absolutely excellent for fall weather.

Chicken soup with Ginger and Fennel
(printable recipe)
serves 4

1 chicken
1 carrot, peeled and cut into smaller pieces
1/2 fennel (fairly small bulb), coarsely chopped
5 ginger slices, 2 mm thick
2 yellow onions, coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp dried tarragon
50 g butter
2 tbsp flour
100 ml cream (full-fat)
1 tbsp sherry or cognac
salt

Place the whole chicken, breast up, i a pot along with the carrot, fennel, ginger and half of the onion. Add the bay leaf, black pepper, tarragon and a pinch of salt. Add water so that it almost covers the chicken, but leaves the top of the breast above water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Simmer on low heat for 1,5 hours.

Remove the chicken and let it cool enough to handle. Shred the meat.

Pour the boiling liquid through a sieve into a clean pot, and boil until about one litre remains.

Melt the butter i a pot (large enough to hold all the soup) and fry the remaining onion on medium heat until it's softened but not browned. Add the flour and stir well. Gradually add the boiling liquid from the chicken, stirring all the time to avoid clumping. When all liquid has been added, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Blend the soup until smooth - I prefer an immersion blender.

Add the cream, sherry or cognac, and the shredded chicken. Season with salt, and any additional spices you might like.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kycklingsoppa med ingefära & fänkål