After a brutal work week, two children with colds and headaches, and the general malaise I feel in pregnancy, it was time to park it on the couch for a day. We’re watching movies, and drinking mugs of Sleepytime tea with milk and honey.
And, of course, we’re eating chicken soup.
I am passionate about fresh chicken soup. My recipe is adapted from a method I learned making gumbo — fresh parsley, celery, onion and garlic are cooked together as the base. It’s green and delicious and fresh.
Even when money has been very tight for us, the kids — and I when I am pregnant — eat only organic meat. This is especially important to me when it comes to soups and stews because you are boiling them and getting everything out of them. I don’t want the children getting antibiotics or growth hormones.
A small organic local chicken was $8. It’s much meatier, more flavorful, and it contains no growth hormones or antibiotics. With the rest of the ingredients — all local, all organic — the bill came to about $30. A lot more than Campbell’s, but not so much when you think of it as dinner for four people with leftovers.
I use organic chicken broth rather than water to cook the chicken in because the end flavor is so good. It’s kind of cheating, though. Just FYI.
So here goes.
Home Made Chicken Doodle Soup
1 organic free range chicken
3 onions
1 bunch (about seven) organic carrots
1 head organic celery
1 head garlic
1 lemon, plus juice from 1 lemon
1 bunch fresh parsley
crushed black pepper
bay leaf
2 containers organic chicken broth
1 pound pappardelle pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
1) Wash the chicken and cut into pieces. Dry. Put all but the breast in a large stockpot over medium heat. (Reserve the breast in a plate in the fridge.) Note: I also rinse the giblets and use those in the stock, all but the liver which adds a bitter taste.
2) Peel one onion and 1/2 head of garlic. Cut onion in half, smash the garlic cloves a little, and add all to the pot. Add a few chunks each, washed carrot and celery. Scrub the lemon, then cut in half and add it to the pot, along with a handful of the parsley, bay leaf and crushed pepper. Cook about 30 minutes, or until the chicken releases its juices. (Note: pepper is a nice addition at this stage because it serves as an aromatic and infuses the cooking oils. Salt is a very bad addition at this stage because as the soup cooks down it condenses, and the salt will be far too strong. So add salt to taste at the very end and not before.)
3) Add the chicken breast back, and then the chicken broth, plus any additional water needed to cover.
3) Boil about 20 minutes, or until chicken breast is cooked through. Remove all chicken to a cutting board, let cool while broth continues to simmer. Remove meat from bones, add bones back to broth, simmer.
4) Pick over chicken meat removing all fat, tiny piece of bone, or anything else that you don’t want to eat. Cut it into bite-sized pieces and put it into the refrigerator.
5) Prep remaining vegetables. Cut celery, carrots, onion into chunks. (Note: organic carrots don’t need to be peeled. Just wash them carefully and cut off bases and tips.) Crush and chop remaining garlic and parsley.
6) Skim the broth. Pour through strainer into a large bowl. Discard vegetables and bones. Skim fat, reserving 2 tablespoons for cooking.
7) Rinse out stock pot and place on burner over medium heat. Add chicken fat and onions, cooking until onions are translucent. Then add parsley, celery and garlic. When celery is soft, add carrots. Grind fresh pepper over it.
8.) Add skimmed broth back and bring to a boil. Skim foam off the top.
9) Break pappardelle into smaller chunks. Cook in salted water until just soft, and then add them to the broth. Continue to boil until the vegetables and pasta are completely cooked. Add back chicken.
10) Season with salt, a little more pepper, and the juice of a lemon.
