A Homemade Chicken Soup Recipe
This homemade chicken soup recipe is easy to make and results in a wonderfully flavoursome meal. Below, there's also a recipe for Jewish chicken soup made in (almost) the traditional way. Good for seeing off a cold or 'flu!
This chicken soup recipe will deliver you the very best results if you treat it as an organic chicken soup recipe!
Use only the best quality fresh free-range chicken - or even better, free-range chicken. Aside from moral scruples about the miserable lives of factory-farmed birds, if you eat free-range chicken you are getting a far tastier, more nutritious and healthy soup for your pains.
Organic and free range chicken is more expensive - necessarily. The birds are more labour-intensive to rear and the food given them is better quality. Nevertheless, you can still make a very inexpensive chicken soup if you use cheap cuts such as chicken wings. You can also use left-overs from a roast chicken, for example.
If you want to make a low fat soup it's very easy to adapt this very easy soup recipe by removing the skin and skimming off the fat. A lot of the fat on a chicken carcase is just under the skin, so by removing it you are lowering the fat content considerably.
If you can, buy from a trusted local supplier. There are some dubious outfits which will try to command premium prices for birds of doubtful origin. Properly farmed, organic and free-range chicken is a valuable food resource which can be a part of a green lifestyle.
This home-made, simple chicken soup is made from common and easily obtainable ingredients. You can, of course, ring the changes by varying the herbs and vegetables used.
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| First, saute onions and bayleaf and rosemary | Add the chicken; after a minute or two add the water | Add the vegetables towards the end |
Ingredients
2-3 medium onions
2 or 3 garlic cloves
1 pound of chicken pieces
3-4 carrots
2-3 stalks of celery
fresh rosemary - 2 or 3 small stalks
fresh thyme, 1 or 2 snippets
bay leaf
fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Chop the onions fairly finely and sweat them in olive oil. You can add the chopped or minced garlic, rosemary and bay at this stage.
Add the chicken pieces and stir the mixture frequently over a medium heat so that the chicken gets slightly seared. Don't allow the onions to brown too much. Browning releases flavours but too much will cause a slightly bitter flavour. Add enough water, preferably , to cover everything. Add salt and pepper and adjust the seasoning by adding more herbs or veg if required. Celery heads (the leafy top bits) are good in moderation for developing the flavour of the liquid. Add the chopped herbs and vegetables. When the mixture comes to the boil, turn down the heat to a very gentle simmer. (This helps the meat to become tender rather than tough.) When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, remove the bones and skin and break up larger pieces of flesh. Return t... |
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