Homemade Chicken Soup

A friend of mine is feeling a bit under the weather...sore throat, headache, runny nose, all that rubbish. So this recipe is for her: nothing soothes a cold like homemade chicken soup.

Illness aside, this is one of my all-time favorite soup recipes. Fresh herbs and spices really bring a lot to this recipe...so try to use them as much as possible.

Trav's Homemade Chicken Soup
1 whole chicken, cooked
2 quarts of water
3 carrots
2 red potatoes
3 stalks of celery
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1, 3" sprig of fresh thyme
1, 3" sprig of fresh rosemary
1, 4" clutch of fresh sage leaves
1 t. whole peppercorns
2 t. salt
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
1 t. grated lemon zest

First, make a stock from the chicken. Start with a whole roasted chicken from the grocery deli. Pull the meat from the chicken, dice it up, and refrigerate it in a plastic container. Put the skin and bones in a large stock pot, and cover with water. Scrub the vegetables thoroughly under running water. Peel and dice the vegetables, refrigerating the good parts and putting the peels and end pieces into the stock pot with the chicken bones. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 to 4 hours.

Strain the broth, and discard the solids. Bring the liquid to a medium boil, and cook uncovered until it is reduced to about 4 cups. Add the chopped chicken meat, carrots, celery, potato, and onion.

Tie the rosemary, sage, and thyme sprigs together with cotton string, and toss them into the soup. Crack the peppercorns coarsely with a mortar and pestile, and add them as well. Stir in the salt, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

Return the soup to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer slowly for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the bundle of herbs, adjust the salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately with fresh crusty bread and a glass of pinot noir (or herbal tea and fuzzy slippers, if you are Heather.)

VARIATIONS

Don't have any fresh herbs handy? Use 1 tsp. of dried rosemary, 1 tsp. of dried thyme, 1/2 tsp. of rubbed sage, and 1 Tbsp. of dried parsley.

To make a hearty chicken stew: double the amount of vegetables and chop everything into larger, fork-sized pieces.

For chicken noodle soup, omit the potatoes. Cook your favorite pasta according to the package instructions, drain it, and stir it into the soup a few minutes before serving. Use as little or as much of it as you like; I like to use about 2 cups of macaroni.

For chicken and rice soup, omit the potatoes. Cook your favorite rice according to the package instructions, and stir it into the soup a few minutes before serving. Use as little or as much of it as you like; I use about 2 cups of wild rice.