When there’s a surplus of produce lying around, especially when the leftover goods were intended for another purpose (last week’s Coq Au Vin and Boeuf Bourguignon), one of my favorite things to do is make soup. The elements are simple: broth, vegetables, aromatics and protein. The possibilities: endless. Because we have a sicky sicky in the house, here we go with what came out of the bistro today: Garden Chicken Soup.
RGB Thyme
RGB Italian Parsley
Sometimes, I’ll add ginger, egg noodles or rice but most of time, I stick to the below outline. The herbs are always straight out of the garden. Today, I went with thyme and Italian parsley.
For me, this is perfect for a lazy afternoon while reading for book club. And, at about 205 calories and less than $1 a bowl, it’s healthy and inexpensive, too.
Who says I don’t eat leftovers?
[K]
So, what do you make with your leftovers?
Garden Chicken Soup
Summer 2009
~
~ Serves ~
8-12
~ Ingredients ~
- Whole chicken, approx. 4 lb.
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 3 quarts water
- 3 brown onions, 2 cups diced; rest quartered
- 5 carrots, 2 cups diced; rest quartered
- 6 whole celery stalks, 2 cups diced; rest quartered
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- 4-5 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp. sea salt
- 3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed, germ removed
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
~ Preparation ~
Preparation Time: 2.0 hours
- Pour water and chicken broth into a large stock pot; place on stove. Set heat level to high.
- Rinse whole chicken and place into stock pot. While water is heating:
- Dice carrots, celery and onion; set aside. Rough chop / quarter the rest and place in stock pot.
- Cut parsley leaves off of stems. Put stems into stock pot. Chop leaves and set aside for garnishing.
- Add thyme, bay leaves, garlic and salt. If you’re using dried bay leaves from a spice jar, go ahead and pull out the broken ones; you’ll want to save the whole ones for situations where you need to fish them out before eating.
- Once the stock is boiling, lower the heat to maintain a slow boil. About 35-40 minutes later, pull out the whole chicken to let it cool. For a stronger stock flavor, keep cooking the stock. Otherwise, you may now turn the heat off.
- While chicken is cooling, sauté diced vegetables in butter and olive oil. You may need to do this in two batches.
- Once the chicken is cooled (approx. 30 minutes), pull and shred the meat into bite-sized chunks. Save and freeze the bones for another use (e.g. chicken stock). My dog usually gets the skin and some meaty bits thrown into her dinner.
- Once the chicken is shredded and vegetables are sautéed, strain the chicken stock. (There should be about 2 quarts of broth.) Return broth to pot; add in sautéed vegetables and chicken and boil for another 5 minutes.
- Into each full serving, there is approx. 4 oz. chicken meat, 1 ½ cups broth and ½ cup sautéed vegetables.
- Into each side serving, there is approx. 2 oz. chicken meat, ¾ cup broth and ¼ cup sautéed vegetables.
- Garnish with chopped parsley. Squirt with lime wedge.
Variations
Additions:
- For additional carbs: add cooked egg noodles or rice.
- For sweeter broth: add a quarter-size lump of rock candy into the stock, use sweet onions, use additional carrots, or add parsnip or rutabaga to the stock.
- For richer broth: add ¾ cup cream to stock before serving.
- For flavor: add small chunk of ginger with broth vegetables, or ¼ cup sherry to stock before serving.
Replacements: Cilantro for parsley. Lemon for lime.
Nutrition content per full serving: 205 calories, 9g carbs, 21g protein, 10g fat, 1g fiber
Cost per side serving: $ 0.89
Source: Rustic Garden Bistro
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