Alsatian Chicken

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• 1 chicken or say 2 Lb chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
  
• ½ Lb good ham (in 1 big slice), dice
  
• 12-15 bacon strips (Fully Cooked), rip each strip in 3 or four pieces
  

• 1 sweet onion, peeled and sliced
  
• 3 bunches Italian parsley, washed and cut (use scissors)
  
• 1½ to 2½ Lb mushrooms, cut in fours or sixes
  
• carrots, some grated for salad, some diced for soup
  
• English peas for soup (optional)
  
• 1-3 leeks for soup, cut lengthwise, then in 1" pieces, rinse well
  
• smashed ginger root for soup (optional)
• soup herbs like bay leaves and thyme
  

• ½-1 cup whipping cream
  
• ½ bottle of Alsatian wine (Riesling, Gewüztraminer) for the sauce (& more for drinking)

• rice
  
• 100 gram (2/3 cup) white flour
  
• olive oil
  

1. Mix flour and 3-4 TBsp olive oil in a large glass bowl (a 2-Quarts, 2-liter measuring bowl is most convenient) and put aside for later use;
2. Grate carrots, save in fridge;
3. If you're not using 'fully-cooked,' prepare bacon
4. Peel onion, cut through and slice thin; heat olive oil in a medium skillet, sautee over high heat for a few minutes, then cook some five more minutes over medium heat; add 1 bunch cut parsley, cook slowly for 5 more minutesd.
   
5. In a large skillet or casserole, saute mushrooms over medium heat; add onion and parsley when the mushrooms are done, then add bacon;
6. Meanwhile, bring chicken to a boil in about 4 cups or more water, skim off foam; add leeks, 1 bunch of parsley and soup herbs, cook slowly for half an hour (breast pieces) to an hour (whole chicken): you'll want it safe, of course, but not dry;
   take chicken from soup, let it cool down on a plate till you can rip it up, debone if necessary (always check for small bones) then add to casserole with onion and mushrooms etc; sieve liquid, discard solid pieces; set aside 1½ cup for sauce;
   add diced carrots, maybe a few pieces of leek to remaining soup, bring to a slow boil again, cook for 20 minutes; in the last minutes add peas and salt to finish the soup; you might put a little parsley in the soup bowls;
   
7. Start rice when chicken is boiling (I repeat: slowly;)
8. Meanwhile, measure 1½ cup of wine, add a little to flour/oil mixture in the large bowl, mix in, add another small amount and mix, then larger amounts, whisk smooth, heat up in microwave, close to boiling; (it's basically white sauce);
9. Then add the reserved 1½ cup of the chicken cooking liquid ("soup") to the sauce, stir well, heat up in microwave if it's not warm enough, then add to mushrooms etc., mix it in;
10. Add whipping cream (unwhipped) to sauce with the last bunch of parsley, stir well, heat on for a few minutes; then turn off heat, mix in diced ham;
11. Serve over rice, with the grated carrots as a side dish; serve soup as appetizer or side dish.

Notes:
Add wine to flour/oil first, soup later; starting sauce with warm liquid doesn't seem to work well.
Instead of preparing the sauce in the microwave you could add flour to the baked onion and garlic (use large casserole), mix in and let rest for fifteen minutes (to reduce floury taste), then turn heat on again, add wine and soup as above (small amounts at first) while stirring well, add mushrooms and chicken pieces, and at the end add more parsley, the cream and ham
You could make a more elaborate soup, cooking chicken with some smashed ginger root, rosemary and peeled garlic; don't use fennel, it doesn't do well in this sauce.

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