Chicken Soup

Over the years, I have made many attempts at making chicken soup. The first was right after I moved out on my own. I had roasted a chicken, which went successfully, and wanted make soup with the leftovers. It went well until I added about 2 or 3 cups of rice and it absorbed all of the stock and I was left with chicken-y rice. Several times, I cooked all of the vegetables with the stock and used them in the soup. I wouldn't say it was bad but after boiling that long the vegetables lose all of the their flavor to the broth.

This particular version is particularly delicious, if I do say so myself. This is the kind of chicken soup I crave. The kind that cures a cold and warms your soul. It's comforting and reminds me of being home.

Chicken Soup

1 leftover chicken and any extra meat

1 onion, quartered

5 cloves of garlic, smashed

6 small carrots, peeled and halved

A handful of fresh dill

4 celery stalks, halved

Fresh ground pepper

Salt

1/2 lemon

1. In a large stock pot, combine chicken, onion, garlic, 3 carrots, dill and 2 celery stalks in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover everything. Grind fresh pepper on top, cover and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, reduce heat to a low simmer. Let simmer for one hour. Taste the broth and salt to taste. Because there is already salt on the leftover chicken, it's good to wait and see how salty the broth is from the chicken. Otherwise, you may over salt.

3. Squeeze juice from lemon into broth. Continue to simmer for another hour. Taste and make any adjustments necessary (salt, pepper).

4. Using a slotted spoon, transfer all solids to a colander and reserve broth. Discard any vegetables or herbs. Separate meat from bone and return any meat to the broth.

5. While you are separating the chicken, let the broth stand on very low heat. The fat will separate from the broth and you can use a spoon to skim it off the top.

6. Slice remaining carrots and celery into discs and add to broth. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, until carrots and celery are soft. Serve and garnish with chopped dill.

Spring and Roasted Chicken

Last week, after a serious, several day storm, we were blessed here in New York with a few nice, warm, sunny days. It started to look like Spring. Something about that warmer weather made me crave roasted chicken. So for St. Patrick's Day, I made J and I a roast chicken. I considered making something more in the holiday spirit but J said that the reason Irish people eat things like corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day is to remind them of how bad everything was, including the food, back in Ireland and how lucky they are to be living in America. So instead of trying to make something Irish, I made something spring-y. Though we didn't delight in all of the wonderful things about Irish cuisine, we enjoyed our chicken very much.

This chicken is so easy to make and wonderfully delicious. Not to mention, chicken is very budget friendly. One chicken will get you at least 2 meals. I made soup with the leftovers (next post). Many recipes will instruct you to truss the chicken, however I find that with such a small chicken, it's really unnecessary. Simply tuck the wings under the chicken. Though I'm sure you already know this, my days spent in class learning about food safety make me feel compelled to remind you to be extra careful with raw chicken. Wash your hands before touching anything else and sanitize anything that touched the raw chicken.

Roast Chicken

1 5lb whole chicken (giblets removed)

2 pads of butter

2 TBS olive oil

salt and pepper

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 lemon, ends trimmed off

6 cloves garlic

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Wash and pat dry the chicken, making sure all giblets are removed from the cavity.

3. Separate the skin from the flesh of the chicken and spread the butter on the flesh. You can simply place the butter between the skin and flesh and then move it around by pressing on the skin to spread it.

4. Rub olive oil all over the skin with your hands. Salt and pepper.

5. Place rosemary, lemon and garlic inside of the cavity.

6. Place in a roasting pan and tuck wings under the body.

7. Roast in oven for about 20 minutes. Using a spoon, gather any drippings and pour over the top of the chicken to keep the meat moist. Return to oven for an additional 20 minutes, until the chicken reaches over 165 degrees temperature on a meat thermometer. Let the chicken rest for about 15 minutes before carving.

Save the carcass for soup (recipe next post) or chicken stock.