Tonight I made chicken soup from scratch. This has been on my things I want to accomplish in life for quite a while now. Well I guess I wasn't real into the idea when I was younger... My mom seemed to be always making chicken stock and I remember getting picked up by my friends who would tell me I always smelled like chicken - not really what you want to smell like on a Friday night. Anyway, now as a grownup, I often freeze the scraps and bones from a roasted chicken dinner to later make stock - only to throw it out a year later. I don't know why I thought it was so intimidating - it was really easy and really really good and I didn't even have to make a trip to the store!
This is what I did:
1. Soak 2 carcasses [ew, sorry] in 8 cups water and some salt for 1 hour.
2. Simmer the same for 1 hour with a handful of peppercorns.
3. Add a quartered onion, a carrot, a big stick of rosemary and simmer another hour or so.
4. Separately sauteed an onion, garlic + chopped carrots with some dried italian herbs.
5. Strain the stock with a colander, chill for a while and then skim off fat [I got impatient with this one]. Froze half the stock to use another day.
6. Heat stock again, add sauteed vegetables and shredded chicken leftovers from a few nights ago. Added fresh parsley, fresh corn and kosher salt at the very end.
yum. and it was so healthy that I'm now going to go finish a pint of Ben + Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie..........
5 comments:
I can't believe you would throw out your stock?! I use mine all the time - freeze in 1 cup sizes and use in recipes all the time. I also use this method to get all the meat off the bones to use for enchiladas, casseroles, etc. Freeze in 4 cup portions. :) I love your soup recipe ... I will be giving it a go for sure. Keep sharing your recipes, I always make whatever you post. You're my favorite foodie. :)
No, I've never even made the stock! I freeze the chicken bones and never end up using them - until now :)
Yay Anne! I'm thinking about using my first ever frozen stock to make your soup--especially since Sammy woke with a little cold this morning. See ya tomorrow--Jen
I like your addition of fresh corn.
When making the soup to eat the same day and do not have time to allow the fat to coagulate at the top, you can use a fat skimmer. I have a little one, but I have seen larger (2 cups) ones with the spout starting at the bottom of the cup.
I liked the comment from your friend who said she saves other types of stock. I just used vegetable stock I had frozen from cooking vegetables; I actually had a quart! You can keep adding to the container with different vegies' stock. Beef or red meat stock (pork even) is harder to have in great quantity for soup or gravey; so I use vegetable stock and beef base (Minor's brand) for the quantity I want. However, come to think of it, if you happen to win a raffle ticket and the prize is a half beef, you will have soup bones to make your stock.
I cook my whole chicken in the crockpot so I take the chicken out and strain the broth into a containter I cool it in fridge to scoop off the fat then put it in the freezer to use as needed when I am ready for stock I have it!
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