I know by the look of this photo it doesn't seem like our cupboard is bare, but trust me when I say we are down to the bottom of the barrel around here. Luckily payday is right around the corner and we can stock up on more fruits and veggies. Homemade bread has really saved us around here lately, as it is easy and cheap to make, but sure does taste like a treat. But what really comes in handy is the stuff I keep stashed in the freezer. It's like my in-case-of-emergency food. One of these items is homemade chicken soup. Not only is it the best soup you will ever eat, but it can be used to flavor all kinds of sauces and casseroles.
Once you start making your own soup you will never want that stuff out of the can again, I promise. What's better, it is so extremely easy to make. So here is a basics recipe I use all the time.
You need one or two chicken carcasses. Although chicken soup is obviously delectable if you begin with a raw chicken for full flavor, I personally believe in making soup out of leftovers. These carcasses are from already roasted chickens, either cooked by me or picked up from the grocery.
After we have had a meal, I immediately take what's left of the chicken and place the entire thing in a soup pot. Cover the chicken with water.
Place the pot on the stove at a med-high temp.
Add to the pot 2 bay leaves, 1 Tbs dried tarragon, 5 black peppercorns
Once the soup is beginning to simmer, turn down your heat to low and place a lid over top. The less your water gets agitated, the clearer your broth will be. This means don't stir the pot. After the first hour add two chopped carrots.
Cook for a few hours. Salt and pepper to taste. Once the broth is ready it is time to pull out the bones. I use a large slotted spoon and gently spoon out all of the chicken from the pot. With your hands, separate any remaining meat from the bones and put back into the pot.
At this point you can either allow to cool in order to freeze or add your noodles. Although I have frozen the soup with the noodles added, I like to keep my soup as simple as possible so it may be used for any purpose.
From here the soup can be jazzed up in many ways. You could add some dollops of verde sauce and avocado for a quick caldo de pollo. You could throw in some dried oregano, frozen spinach, and meatballs for a quick Italian wedding soup. Or this soup could be used as the chicken broth base for many other soups like pumpkin or potato-leek.
One tip- If you want your soup to be free from as much fat as possible, I recommend spooning the soup into mason jars. Leave a good 1 1/2 inches from the top. Refrigerate. Once completely cool, you can open the jars and easily spoon out the hard layer of fat that has risen to the top.
