Rachel Robin's Nest

This is something I have been meaning to do FOREVER!  Every time I roast a bird or pick up a quick rotisserie chicken for dinner, I think, boy, I should make soup too.  It’s a great way to extend leftovers and make something out of the chicken carcass that is typically thrown away.  And who doesn’t like chicken soup?  But I somehow never quite got around to doing it.  I actually started once, but, paralyzed by fear of not having a recipe to follow, I gave up.

This time, however, I was determined to follow through.  On Monday night, after a grueling round of grocery shopping, Ben and I decided we were too tired to cook and picked up a “Bourbon” rotisserie chicken at Stop & Shop.  Sadly, I think the chickie spent a little too much time under the heat lamps.  It was a little overcooked and dry in places, but definitely still edible.  Also, the “Bourbon” seasoning or whatever was not my favorite thing, but after eating enough to fill ourselves, I got down to business.  Please note that this “recipe” is merely approximations of what I actually did, because I myself did not use a recipe, and went by taste.

Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients (Chicken Stock)

• One leftover chicken roast
• 2 stalks celery,
• 2 medium carrots,
• 2 medium onions,
• water
• salt & pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• pinch basil
• pinch thyme

Ingredients for the Soup

• shredded chicken
• 3 medium carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• Half a box of pasta (elbows, radiators etc-small pieces)-optional
• Spices to taste

Directions:

1. Grab your leftover chicken and strip all of the edible meat off the bones.  Shred the meat and save it for later.  Save the bones too.
2. Wash and coarsely chop your onions, celery and carrots-don’t bother peeling them as long as you wash them well.
3. Put bones and veggies in a large stock pot and cover with water.  Add seasonings (see Note About Seasoning below)
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least 4 hours, but up to a full day, skimming off any scum or fat that may rise to the top.  Strain the bones and veggies out of the stock-make sure you reserve the stock.  Discard bones and veggies-you’ve extracted all the flavor from them and don’t want to eat mushy, overcooked veggies!  You may keep the stock refrigerated for a day or so or freeze it and make the soup at a later date
   

   What the stock looked like post-marathon simmer

5. When you’re ready to make the soup, wash, peel and chop all of your fresh, new veggies into bite-sized pieces.
6. Add your stock, veggies, and chicken meat to the broth and bring to a low simmer-season to taste with salt, pepper, basil and thyme
7. If you are using pasta, boil it separately so that the pasta doesn’t suck up all your broth, and add the cooked pasta just before serving.
   

   The finished product. It was hard to get a good picture because the steam kept fogging up my camera lens.

I have to say, for a first attempt, the soup came out pretty darn good!  We ate it for dinner last night and again for lunch today, and there’s still some left over!  I definitely have some tweaking to do though-I only simmered my carcass and veggies for about 3 hours, and according to my dear friend Jaska (read her blog here), the key to a good stock is simmering the bird for a good long time-at least 12 hours, so I intend to do this next time.

**A Note About Spicing-I think all told I ended up using about 3 tbsp of salt, but the amount you use will depend on the amount of water you use, so start small and incrementally add more.  Just be careful and patient!  I also ended up using quite a bit of black pepper, and about 1/2 tsp each of basil and thyme.

What else did you try putting in your soup?