For this recipe we generally use whatever veggies we have in the fridge. The famous triad is always carrots, onion, celery and more often than not, potatoes (unless we plan to add noodles).
For a delicious homemade soup, homemade broth is essential! You can use a bouillon cube- but nothing beats from scratch.
We gather our bones and veggie scraps in the freezer, then simmer a stock via a simple process shown in another blog post here. We store our bone and veggie stock in the fridge, in 2L jars, until it's time to make soup broth.
Ingredients for Chicken soup
1-2 chicken breast
Two small onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 medium russet potatoes, diced
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp oil- we use lard or tallow, splash of olive oil for flavour
Splash of wine to deglaze
Rosemary, tbsp
Thyme, tbsp
Oregano, tbsp
Two liters chicken stock (recipe linked here)
Optional Ingredients
Mushrooms, diced
Peas
Corn
Broccoli
Small noodles if no potatoes - starch makes the soup super cozy
METHOD
For the chicken
This is an excellent recipe to make after roasting a whole bird. The first night, dig in, but save a large breast and leftover meat in a sealed container in your fridge to add to this soup. Save the carcass to make your stock.
If you don't have cooked chicken already in your fridge, dice 1-2 chicken breasts into small bite sized pieces. Add oil/fat into your stock pot and cook your chicken pieces until just done, ~10 minutes, and then set aside.
Next, let's do the veggies
Dice your vegetable ingredients.
Add oil/fat into a large stock pot (just a little more if you just cooked your chicken, to prevent sticking), heat to medium and add the veggies in.
Cook until onions are translucent, ~10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add seasonings and herbs during this process.
Deglaze with a splash of wine or water once browning begins to occur. Stir to clean off the bottom of the pot.
Add stock. Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce to a low simmer, for about ~15 minutes. During this time the soup will be left uncovered and will reduce down to concentrate the flavours. Add any small noodles at this time, because this will give them time to soften.
Next, add your chicken and test your flavour profile. Adjust seasoning if needed.
Store leftover soup in the fridge for up to a week in sealed jars. Please note that separation will occur, this is normal and will combine when heated.
Serve with a side of buttered toast, obviously! :D
Thanks for reading.