Wow, no one has used the node title 'chicken soup' in which to node their chicken soup recipe? I am honoured indeed. I am also happy that none of those fake chicken soup recipes get to go here and I get to pass on my mother's recipe which I have slightly modified. I believe most people would classify it as a Jewish recipe. This chicken soup recipe produces a clear tasty broth or consumé (consommé) that is great for curing ills especially colds and flu. Also, don't fuss over finely cutting vegetables to get a mirepoix or anything like that. Large chunks from which you can extract the flavour and later sieve them out is fine. You can also experiment with changing the amount of vegies you add as well till you get the combination that suits you and the type and quality of ingredients that you have. For me making chicken soup is a ritual.

Chicken Soup

1 large boiling chicken - I can't usually find a boiling chicken locally though I wish I could as they give a much better taste. If you can't, I recommend using an organically grown chicken and not one of those batch hens with little to no flavour.
1 large Onion - cut it in two and you can leave the husking layers on if you like.
2 large Carrots - cut into 1-1 1/2 inch sections and halve if you really feel like it.
1 medium Celariac (celery root) - hard to find but when in season (usually the start of winter here) it adds a nice strong
celery flavour. If you can't get it don't worry maybe add more celery to your liking.
1/2 Celery - break in sections, wash and leave out the old mangey looking leaves at the top.
A good handful of parsley - whack a good bunch of parsley in, yum!
whole peppercorns - I add quite a few as i like the taste. Maybe add 6-12.
water - goes without saying really but enough water to cover the chicken and the vegetables you intend to cook
Optionals - consider maybe adding leek, shallots, parsnip, turnip and cloves and bay leaves. Any white vegetables are fine to add. Don't get carried away. You are after a strong chicken taste augmented by the clean flavours of the vegetables.

Method

Put the chicken in the pot with the vegetables and spices. Cover with water. Sometimes you might need a heavy lid or a weighted lid turned upside down to push the chicken down into the water. Bring to boil quickly (I've found this to produce the best results). Once it starts boiling skim off coagulated proteins and scum off the top. Bring it off the boil until the water is just rolling gently(simmer).

Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Yes that's right. You want all the goodness in the water. Check periodically to skim off fat that has now risen to the surface and pooled between the floating vegetables.

Remove the chicken. Sieve the vegetables away from the liquid. You should now have a slightly brownish clear liquid. Season the liquid with salt. Don't overdo it with the salt. I have to say though that you do need quite a bit of salt to bring out the full flavour.

Serving Suggestion

Put some hand shredded meat from the chicken back in the soup.
Add some vermicilli noodles
This sounds weird but severely brown to almost burn some thin slices of onion and add it into the soup. The slightly bitter flavour of the onions tastes great. Try it!
Quickly whisk an egg into the mix to give yourself a good energy boost or if you need a real pick me up
That's it.. ENJOY!

This is a basic chicken soup recipe, for those noders that lack the inclination to spend hours slaving over food preparation, or for those who are too sick to give a fsck.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (you can buy frozen chicken, see if I care)
• 1/2 Kg Chicken Wings
• 1 Kg Beef shoulder meat
• 1 Celery (that means the stalks of what we call here American Celery. The one you use for Bloody Marys)
• 5 Carrots
• 5 Large, White and peeled Onions
• 5 Parsley Roots (they look like white carrots, and have a wonderful aroma)
• 2 Leeks
• 3 Teaspoons of Salt for seasoning.

Preparation

• In a large pot, put chicken, wings and beef, cover with water, then bring to a boil.
• Turn the fire down, and cook for an hour, then add the vegetables
• Season with salt, and cook for another hour.

*** Note: This is the basic jewish mother chicken soup, made with care and administered for a variety of ailments.

Chicken Soup without the Chicken

This was invented to comfort a neighbor who was suffering with the flu and needed some sympathy. I had no chicken for the traditional cure, chicken soup, so I made it without the chicken. Did I mention that I'm not fond of cooking but I felt some gesture of commiseration would be in order?

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Hot (= spicy) Italian sausage, 2 links
• Onions
• Garlic
• Herbs like basil and oregano
• Chicken stock, enough
• Small Handful pasta like fettuccini or capellin

Method

Cover the bottom of a large pot with olive oil. Squeeze into it the contents of a couple links of hot Italian sausage. Stir it around until it changes color. Add an enormous quantity of chopped onions (I used frozen) and enough garlic that would make its presence known even through blocked nasal passages (I used garlic in a jar).

Stir over medium flame until the sausage meat just starts to form a crust. Stand back and pour in the contents of a can or two of chicken stock or reconstituted chicken broth made with bouillon. Bring to a boil and add a small handful of raw pasta. Follow package directions until the pasta is done. Sprinkle in bruised herbs. (Another neighbor has a herb garden growing on the wall of his back porch. I was sure he wouldn't mind contributing to the welfare of our neighbor, so I grabbed some basil and oregano, while the house was still asleep.)

Continue heating just a few more minutes. Cool and decant into a large jar with character and a lid. (I used a couple mason jars. Like they say, presentation is everything.)

About ten years ago I was laboring under the false assumption that soups were something only an "expert" cook was capable of making. Man, was I wrong.

Soup, it turns out, is one of the easiest foods there is to make. Boil water and vegetables and meat (if you're a carnivore), add some rice or pasta and some spices, and you've got a meal. No recipe really needed, but if you really must follow one, there are thousands out there.

My chicken soup recipe developed over the course of several years. There is not a week that passes in which I don't make chicken soup. One pot of this stuff feeds my family of five for at least two meals, plus a couple of stray bowls here and there. Best of all, it costs less than $5 to make a pot, when chickens are on sale.

Ingredients

• One frying chicken, giblets removed
• One large turnip
• One large rutabaga
• Two large parsnips
• Three or four decent size carrots
• Two large potatoes
• One large onion
• Four celery stalks
• Two small or one medium zucchini
• Five large Roma tomatoes (get the seeds out!)
• Two cups macaroni or uncooked rice
• One can (yes, can) green beans, with the liquid
• One can of spinach, with the liquid
• Four garlic cloves
• Three or four tablespoons Italian Seasoning herb mix
• A few dashes of Tabasco
• Eight to ten chicken bouillion cubes
• Soy sauce to taste
• Any particular favorite spices or herbs of your own

Procedure

Get the largest stock pot you own (mine is 16 quart) and fill it about half way with water. Put it on the stove, add your herbs, spices, and bouillion, toss the entire chicken in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a fast simmer.

When the chicken starts looking cooked, remove it from the pot and put it on the cutting board. Turn the stove off for a while. Let the chicken cool down until you can touch it without getting scalded. Using a small kitchen knife, cut as much of the meat from the bones as you can. (I always crack and save the larger bones in a large Ziploc bag in the freezer for the next time I make soup, just yank them out and toss them in the pot with the chicken. If you ever do this, make sure you remove all of the bones from the pot before adding the cut up chicken and the veggies. The marrow makes for a richer broth.) Put the meat back into the pot.

Chop up your vegetables to chunks about one to two inches in size, depending how chunky you like your soups. Toss them and the canned vegetables into the pot, adding enough water to cover all of your stuff and an inch or two for good measure. For seeding the tomatoes, I've always found that cutting them around their middles, then running a hard stream of water from the faucet over the cut ends gets most of the seeds out.

Let the whole mess come to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and leave it, stirring occasionally. When the rutabaga pieces are easily stabbed with a fork, add the rice or macaroni. Let the soup bubble for another 20 to 30 minutes, remove from the stove, and serve. Before serving, you can, if you like, run the hand blender through the soup for a minute or two. This will mush up some of the vegetables, making for a thicker, heartier broth, almost like a stew. If you only have a standard blender, you can remove a few ladel-fulls of soup and puree for a minute or two, then return to the pot.

I serve this with homemade bread and butter, and huge glasses of ice cold milk. It is the only way I have found to get lots of vegetables into my kids without any fuss whatsoever.

 

Lazy ass winter warmer chicken soup – for when it’s cold, you’ve got some root vegetables on the turn, are feeling a bit under the weather and just need to give yourself some TLC.

Take:

• 2 chicken thigh and leg portions
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• ¾ cup farmhouse soup mix (split peas, beans, lentils, barley etc.)
• 3 bay leaves
• ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon each ground coriander & mustard seed
• Oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 litre hot water

Do:

1. Fry off the chicken pieces in a little oil till golden. Set aside.
2. Sweat the onion in the oil & chicken juices till glassy. Add the bay leaf and other flavourings, the carrot and the potato. Cover with the water and return the chicken to the pot.
3. Bring soup to high simmer, then add the grain mix and continue to simmer vigorously for 5-10 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces using tongs, lower the heat and partially cover the pot.
4. Strip the chicken meat off the bones and dice it, then return everything back to the pot and add the parsley. Adjust seasoning and continue to simmer gently for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
5. Eat.

BrevityQuest07