Published March 23, 2020
What am I doing while staying at home? Why, cooking of course! After all, I was known at camp as “Libby the Cook”
- In a deep soup pot (or Instant Pot or Slow Cooker), place:
- 1 chicken carcass with all the yummy browned bits & any leftover roasted skin
- Ends and outer peels of a large onion (save onion for soup)
- Tops and leafy parts of celery (save sticks for soup)
- 2-3 bay leaves (I *may* use 4…)
- 5 black peppercorns
- a full head of garlic, peels & all–but crush each clove a bit for extra flavor
- 1/4-1/2 cup extra-dry Vermouth or dry white wine (optional, but the alcohol boils out, and the flavor is lovely!)
- Water to cover carcass completely
2. On the stovetop, bring to a boil, then simmer for at least an hour.
3. In Instant Pot, set lid to Seal, and cook on “Soup” setting, high pressure, 90 minutes. Let steam release naturally.
- Heat a bit of oil in a deep saucepan.
- Saute chopped onion, minced garlic, sliced celery and sliced carrots until beginning to soften.
- Add broth.
- Set skinless, boneless pieces of chicken into the pot–you can cook them from frozen this way. I am all over anything that reduces prep steps!
- Add broth to 2″ from top of the pot, cover.
- Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer.
- Add any other hard vegetables you want in your soup now (potatoes, yams, celeriac, cabbage, hard squashes), with a can of diced tomatoes.
- Sprinkle herbs and spices over the top: garlic granules, paprika, dill, parsley, thyme for a lighter flavor; garlic granules, cumin, curry and your level of cayenne pepper for a deeper flavor.
- Use your nose and a spoon for tasting to determine the flavor you want. Don’t forget to add salt, as it intensifies all the other flavors!
- Cover and simmer at least 1/2 hour.
- Remove chicken pieces, cut up, return to pot.
- Once hard veggies are soft, add other veggies as desired – broccoli, peppers, summer squash, peas, green beans, spinach, kale. etc
- Simmer until all veggies are soft enough to eat.
- Adjust flavor: salt a bit more, add a shot of lemon juice, black or white pepper, more garlic (can you tell I love the stuff?)
- Fill the bowl and enjoy!
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