Hard Rock Cafe Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

It's the chunkiest dang chicken soup you'll ever slurp down and it comes from the first worldwide theme eatery and hip hangout. Crank up the rock 'n roll and throw all this good stuff into a pot and enjoy this final secret recipe in our series of mouth-watering soup clones. Bah-bye winter!

Recipe Ingredient
1 pound chicken breast fillets

1 pound chicken thigh fillets

vegetable oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup diced celery

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

1 cup sliced carrot

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh parsley

2 cups egg noodles

Garnish

minced fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Rub a little vegetable oil over the surface of each piece of chicken and arrange them on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven when it's done and set it aside to cool.

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Saut?the onion and celery in the saucepan for just 4 to 5 minutes. You don't want to brown the veggies.

4. Dice the chicken and add it to the pot along with the remaining ingredients, except the noodles.

5. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots are soft.

6. Add the noodles and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, or until the noodles are tender. Serve with a pinch of minced fresh parsley sprinkled on top.

Makes 6 servings.

Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad

Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad

Applebee's 60-item menu is revised twice a year.That means about 40 percent of the entire menu changes on a regular basis. The other 60 percent are items that are found on menus in all of the Applebee's restaurants, and seldom ever change.

One item that has been on the menu for some time now is this Oriental Chicken salad, which is considered one of the restaurant's signature items. The recipe makes one dinner-size salad and can be easily doubled or quadrupled for additional servings.

This recipe comes from the third book, "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes," but the dressing has been improved to more closely match the current dressing served at the restaurant.

Oriental Dressing

3 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons rice winevinegar

1/4 cup mayonnaise1 teaspoon Grey Poupon Dijon mustard

1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

Salad

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup corn flake crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half

2-4 cups vegetable oil (for frying)

3 cups chopped romaine lettuce

1 cup red cabbage

1 cup Napa cabbage

1/2 carrot, julienned or shredded

1 green onion, chopped

1 tablespoon sliced almonds

1/3 cup chow mein noodles

1. Preheat oil in deep fryer or deep pan over medium heat. You want the temperature of the oil to be around 350 degrees.

2. Blend together all ingredients for dressing in a small bowl with an electric mixer. Put dressing in refrigerator to chill while you prepare the salad.

3. In a small, shallow bowl beat egg, add milk, and mix well.

4. In another bowl, combine flour with corn flake crumbs, salt and pepper.

5. Cut chicken breast into 4 or 5 long strips. Dip each strip of chicken first into egg mixture then into the flour mixture, coating each piece completely.

6. Fry each chicken finger for 5 minutes or until coating has darkened to brown.

7. Prepare salad by tossing the chopped romaine with the chopped red cabbage, Napa cabbage, and carrots.

8. Sprinkle sliced green onion on top of the lettuce.

9. Sprinkle almonds over the salad, then the chow mein noodles.

10. Cut the chicken into small bite-size chunks. Place the chicken onto the salad forming a pile in the middle. Serve with salad dressing on the side.Makes 1 dinner-size salad.