Chicken Soup with Homemade Stock

If you've never poached a chicken or made your own chicken stock, I definitely recommend it. I can't think of a better house-filling aroma and it's a great way warm the house and the body on the first cold nights of the season. It's surprisingly easy as well, basically throw a bunch of chopped veggies in a large pot with the chicken and cover with water and before you know it, you'll be following the smells to the kitchen for a taste.

Chicken soup is still my ultimate comfort food and my fallback for many meals. Whether it's dinner when Dave is away on business, when I make it a bit more complete with vegetables and chicken, or a quick lunch of noodles and broth when I haven't been to the grocery store, I like it in all forms and appreciate the simplicity of the basic ones and love the heartiness of others. In the end, they all get the job done.

There will probably be a theme of soups, stews, chilis, etc over the next few months, but this is another prime example of a satisfying soup that simmered all afternoon and was enjoyed for several days after.

Basic Chicken Soup

Chicken stock:
1 whole chicken (insides removed)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tsp black peppercorns
water to cover

soup:
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1c small pasta
salt and pepper to taste
chopped flat leaf parsley for serving
meat from chicken
stock

To make the chicken stock, put the chicken, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, bay leaves and pepper corns in a large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken, shred the meat and set aside. Strain the stock, discarding vegetables.

Return the stock to the pan with the celery, carrot, pasta, shredded chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is done and the vegetables are tender. Top with parsley.

Results: This is so satisfying and I found that you can adjust the heartiness by choosing different vegetables and pasta. I used shells and used the whole box, whereas using something like orzo and more finely-chopped vegetables would produce something a bit less rustic. While the stock smelled amazing while cooking, when I tasted it, it didn't have much flavor so adding salt is definitely necessary and I think I would even add it when cooking the stock by itself. I also let the stock simmer for another hour after I removed the chicken. I'm not sure if this does much as the chicken bones aren't in there anymore, but I just loved the smell and it definitely didn't hurt the taste in the end.