Family Lockdown Cooking: Chicken Stock Soup

A roast chicken is one of the most economical meals you can make because there’s so much to be done with the leftovers. I have chosen a Chicken and Red Pepper with Rice recipe that uses up the leftover meat from the Little Effort Roast Chicken but the chicken bones are the key to making this timeless Chicken Stock Soup . Once you have stripped all the chicken meat you can extract the remaining nutrition by cooking the chicken bones slowly in water with simple vegetables to create a delicious and nourishing broth.

INGREDIENTS
For the Stock
1 chicken carcass
1 large onion
3 medium sized carrots
3 celery stalks
1 head of garlic
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves

Ingredients for the Soup
Serves 2 Adults and 2 Kids
1 litre of the homemade chicken stock (listed above)
1 small onion
3 medium sized carrots
2 celery stalks
100g orzo, or rice, or small pasta of any shape
1 tbsp chicken fat or olive oil
Optional: Fresh Thyme

• Strip all the meat away from the carcass and save to make another recipe, for example Chicken and Red Pepper, and put all the bones into a medium sized stock pot or large saucepan.
• Roughly chop the carrots and celery. This means there is more surface area of vegetable which will make your broth tastier.
• Do not peel the onion because it’s the skin that gives the stock its beautiful colour. Cut it in half and place the two halves skin side down on the vegetables.
• Add the bay leaves and salt.
• Turn the tap onto a slow speed and gently fill the pot with water until the chicken carcass is just below the level of the water. Try not to move the water around as it goes into the pan, you don’t want to disturb anything too much because this makes the stock cloudy.
• Put the pot on a medium low heat for 3-6 hours. The longer it cooks the deeper the flavour will be. If you keep the temperature low the stock stays nice and clear and there’s no need to skim the top. Just let the aromas fill your house while you get on with your day.
• Once the liquid has reduced by at least 2 cm and the onions have shrunk in their skins your stock should be ready.

• Strain the stock through a colander into a clean bowl then discard the meat and vegetables.
• Wipe the pan clean with a piece of kitchen roll then strain the stock back into the pan using a fine mesh sieve. Repeat the process by straining the stock through a fine sieve one more time into a jug or clean bowl.

Ingredients for the Soup
Serves 2 Adults and 2 Kids
1 litre of the homemade chicken stock (listed above)
1 small onion
3 medium sized carrots
2 celery stalks
100g orzo, or rice, or small pasta of any shape
1 tbsp chicken fat or olive oil
Optional: Fresh Thyme

• Now that you have your broth it’s easy to make the soup. It’s important to use new vegetables, rather than those in the stock, because the taste and texture is better.
• Skim a tablespoon of fat from the top of the broth and put it back into the pan you made the broth in and turn the heat to medium high.
• Peel and chop the onion and carrots. Chop the celery and all the vegetables into the pan. Cook for 5 minutes to soften the veggies and give them a little colour.
• Add the orzo and the stock. If you have some fresh thyme add that in a bundle tied with kitchen string. Cook on a medium high heat (gently boil) for 15 minutes until the orzo is cooked.
• Remove the thyme bundle (don’t worry if a few leaves fall off into the soup) and serve.