Recipes: Seasonal and Warming Autumn Chicken Soup

My good friend Sarah dropped in for lunch one chilly October day and it just so happened I had some leftover chicken carcass in the fridge. I always use up the carcass for soups of all sorts - it is just a great way to use your Frugal Faculty and to make your chicken last your family for two, even three meals (more on that coming). And as I realised all of the veg I use for chicken soup happens to be in season, and I just happen to have most of them in our little garden, well it was the perfect time to make good old chicken soup. Okay, I also wanted to impress my good friend with my seasonal produce, as one does...

I cook it like my mother, so all credit goes to her. My good friend Sarah, who admits to be a bit particular about her food, declared the soup was delicious and she urgently wanted the recipe. Well, here it is. A really simple and gentle, no fireworks, mother’s chicken soup. Why is it so good? Perhaps the secret lies in the vegetables, homegrown and freshly picked? It’s not a meal designed to knock you over; to the contrary, it will reliably PICK YOU UP on those chilly autumn days.

Serves: 4-6 people

Cooks in: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Here's all the veg and herbs I used for my soup. Some celery leaf joined parsley to serve as garnish.

- 1 chicken carcass (can be frozen, but remove the larger fat deposits as they will overwhelm the soup with too much fat floating on top; for an extra lean option, remove the skins also)

- 2-3 carrots

- 1 parsnip

- 1-2 stalks of celery with the leaves (it’s best to use the celery centre with its small and tender leaves for this recipe; you will cut off the leaves and use for garnish together with the parsley)

- 1 half of a leek (the greener part, you can leave the white part for a fresh winter salad)

- 1 half of an onion, slightly charred over a flame

- 1-2 bay leaves

- 2-3 berries of all spice (alternatively 3-4 corns of black pepper)

- three sprigs of parsley

- salt and pepper to season

Steps:

Does anybody else do this on the stove flame these days? It adds amazing flavour to the soup.

1. Wash all your veg. Separate celery leaves from the stalk. Peel and slice the carrots and parsnip into sticks (and the celery stalk if big enough). Peel half of the onion and place it over a flame for a minute, turning slowly, just to let it brown over the edges. Leave the leek whole as you will be taking it out of the soup at the end (but make sure you wash it thoroughly in between the leaves as dirt tends to gather in those hard to reach spaces).

The sticks can be thick as they will cook for a while. I chopped the herbes upfront for demonstration purpose, but it's best to leave this to the end of cooking to prevent the garnish from drying.

2. Place all the veg in a large pot together with the chicken carcass (it can be frozen at this stage). Pour over enough water to cover all the ingredients. Add in the bay leaves and all spice/peppercorns. Put on a high heat and bring to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for at least 40 minutes, preferably 1 hour to get the flavours to deepen and combine.

About 30 minutes into simmering the soup starts to smell heavenly and the leek is soft - it will soon be time to remove it.

3. After that time, turn off the heat and using a fork remove the cooked leek, onion, bay leaves and all spice. Using two large utensils, carefully lift the carcass onto a plate. Let it cool down a bit and separate whatever meat you can from the bones. Throw the meat back into the soup. Give the bones to your dog to enjoy.

My chicken soup cooked for an hour. I like to garnish it while still in the pot.

4. Your soup is done! Season to taste, serve into bowls, garnish with chopped parsley and celery leaves on top.

No, I don't eat like a bird. This was the portion for my littlest person. It also tastes great blended smooth for a baby (just ditch the salt and pepper in that case).

When Sarah was here, we enjoyed this soup with toasted ciabatta rolls and butter. But I also highly recommend trying the traditional eastern-European way of pouring it over cooked egg noodles - it is comfort food taken to the next level. Bon appetit!