Chicken soup

For body and soul

This chicken soup rose to the surface of our cooking files recently when a family braai left me with plenty of meat on the bone after jointing two chickens and my brother and I were shooting the breeze about how to optimise a rotisserie chicken, two situations that call for making broth. In the same week, when thinking of what to cook for a friend completing chemo, this felt like the right choice for nourishing body and soul.

Making stock is a hands-off process suited to lazy afternoons. All it requires is the odd skim inbetween reading a book or stoking the fire, and an occasional check that it’s simmering, not boiling. Multitask by gently cooking the aromatic vegetable base for the soup at the same time.

Soup notes

A good soup relies on:

1. Powerful broth

2. A solid aromatic base.

This forms the blueprint and can stand alone as a delicious chicken soup. Any other additions (like the pasta, peas, cream, and parsley below) depend on personal preference.

The broth

Ramp up flavour by using two or three chicken carcasses to make broth – freeze them after each roast. If there’s only one carcass to hand, boil the finished broth to reduce by half before using.

The aromatic base

This is the holy trinity of onion, carrot and celery. Use generous quantities and cook low and slow until soft, sweet and caramelised. Developing these flavours cannot be rushed.

The soup

A complete and comforting meal in a bowl.

Feeds four to six

Place into a medium-sized pot over a medium-low heat:

• quarter cup butter

• two onions, peeled and finely chopped

• two carrots, peeled and finely chopped

• two celery sticks, finely chopped

• one teaspoon of sea salt

Put the lid on and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and cook for 45 minutes until soft, golden and caramelised. Check and stir frequently in the last 30 minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile, cook half cup pasta rice, if using, according to the packet instructions. Rinse under running cold water, toss with a drizzle of olive oil and set aside.

Add 1,5 litres strong homemade chicken broth to the soup base, bring to the boil, then add one cup frozen peas and simmer until bright green and just cooked.

Turn off the heat and season generously with salt and pepper. Stir in quarter cup cream or crème fraîche and chopped roast chicken.

Divide the pasta rice among bowls, ladle in the soup, sprinkle with finely chopped flatleaf parsley and serve immediately.

For the full broth method, click the link below

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