It’s been so cold and wet lately, no wonder soups have been all I’ve been craving for. To be honest, I am so pleased for soup season as I do like to use up the veggies in my fridge when they need using up to made a one pot nutritious meal. And when you blend the soup, it hides all signs of any vegetables ever existed (which is great for getting your children to eat vegetables) plus turn the soup into a nice thickish creamy texture.
There are so many versions of chicken soups, this is just my version of this particular soup. I must admit I just love to use broccoli stalks. I use a lot of broccoli florets daily so I like to cut and save the stalks to put into soups. They become so tender and sweet when cooked, it is really an under rated part of the vegetable you should not ever throw out.
Depending on what colour you want your soup, you can use any vegetables. If you are after a greener soup, then use mainly green vegetables. This time I used fairly light coloured vegetables so the soup is a bit of a light orange/yellow colour.
Another tip about this soup is that it does take two steps. To ensure this soup has a depth of flavour and that the chicken is supple and not overcooked, the first step is to prepare the stock base. You will get a much more flavoursome soup if you take the time to make the soup stock first. However if time is not your friend, then throw all ingredients in until just cooked with good store bought chicken stock.
Ingredients for stock base:
1 whole chicken (I removed the skin and any fat I can remove)
1 bag of chicken necks (and any chicken bones, carcasses, wing tips you may have in the freezer)
1 large brown onion chopped into quarters
2 cloves of garlic
2 sticks of celery chopped into large chunks including any usable leaves
A few bunches of roughly chopped spring onions including usable green parts
A teaspoon of rock salt
½ teaspoon of peppercorns
1 stick of cinnamon (optional)
1 large star anise (optional)
Soup ingredients:
2 carrots chopped finely (I did not peel the carrot)
2 potatoes chopped finely
1 small purple sweet potato (you can use any kind of sweet potato)
2 sticks of celery chopped finely
3 stems of broccoli stalks chopped finely
½ zucchini chopped finely
¼ cauliflower chopped finely
2 sticks of spring onions chopped finely
1/3 cabbage chopped roughly
3 chicken thigh fillets
1 chicken stock gel tub
Salt and pepper to taste
To make the stock, bring to boil all stock ingredients in a large stock pot with enough water to cover all the ingredients. Then turn down to medium simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every now and skim off the froth that gathers on the top of the soup.
When the whole chicken is cooked, take the chicken out to remove all the chicken meat. Store in the fridge until ready to put back into the soup. Throw all the chicken carcass back into the soup to continue cooking with lid off. You may want to turn the heat down slightly so it is a simmer. Simmer for at least a few hours to really extract the flavours from the ingredients, this reduces the liquid at the same time to intensity the flavour of the stock. Don’t be afraid that you are cooking all the ingredients to death. I’ve had this on the stove top gently bubbling away for most of the day. You will notice that everything would be falling apart, which is what you want as this extracts all the goodness from the chicken and its bones.
Whilst stock is cooking, prepare all your soup vegetables. Set aside until ready to use.
Hint: I found that as soon as I peeled the sweet potato, the colour of the potato turned brown almost immediately so peel it when you are ready to use. I am not sure if this would be the same for other types of sweet potato. Also, potato can turn brown too but this is easily fixed by soaking it in water.
Once the stock is ready, discard all the ingredients and strain the stock so you are only left with the stock. Don’t be surprised if the soup is slightly underwhelming in flavour as you have not added any of the other soup vegetables, nor have you seasoned the soup to taste.
In the soup pot, sauté the chicken thighs whole in some olive oil seasoning with some salt and pepper. Add spring onions, celery and broccoli stalks to sauté for a good few minutes too. Once there is colour on both sides of the chicken, add the stock then add all other ingredients. Bring to boil and remove the chicken once the chicken looks cooked. This shouldn’t take too long, set aside until ready to add back to the soup.
Simmer the soup on medium heat until the vegetables are cooked. Shred all the chicken and set aside. Once the vegetables are cooked, season the soup with salt and pepper if need to. Turn heat off and blend using hand blender or blend batches in a blender. Once all the soup is blended, add shredded chicken to the soup and mix well.
When serving, you can add some finely chopped chives or spring onions and the lovely flavoursome croutons you may have made to add more substance to your soup. I’m sure you will get a lovely creamy soup without needing to add any cream but don’t let me stop you in adding a dollop of your favourite cream to your bowl. You may even want to pan fry some dumplings and add them to the soup too. This makes plenty of soup with leftovers for other meals and even to freeze for another time. This soup has been well received, hope it’s the same for you….especially to children. You will probably need some warm crusty bread to wipe up the bowl too!
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