CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE OFFICE

Here is my morning, making chicken soup for the offices dinner tonight, and man do I need to practice my knife skills. I bought a 4.5 lbs. chicken last night, whole you know? So this morning I got all of my stuff out, got the zooks and sliced them into half moons 1/4 inch thick, some celery, ginger, watercress, and green papayas my sis had in her fridge.

Anyhow, I had to section the bird so it would sweat out nice in the stock pot. This is what happened, I mangled the bird, sectioning the legs was hideous but it worked since it was for soup, if it was for a display case forget it, and removing the wings and breast was also HIDEOUS! Well long story short, I got the bird into the stock pot.

1. Heat up vegetable oil and started to sweat out the juices from the mangled bird for about 45 minutes over medium heat.

2. Add 2 cups of water boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Add 8 cups of water, boil and simmer 30 minutes.

4. Boiling hot to reduce the 8 cups to about 4 cups around 30 minutes or so.

5. Removing carcass and bones from liquid.

6. Add cubed breast to broth.

7. Added ground peeled organic tomatoes.

8. Chopped celery.

9. Shredded chicken goes back into pot.

10. Celery in pot to give it flavor not looks.

11. Soup taking shape after 2 1/2 hours.

Nearly 2 1/2 hours of boiling and simmering, boiling and simmering to develop a rich chicken stock that is turning into a rich soup. The longer you simmer the more rich the broth will be. Ultimately I wanted to just roast the whole chicken but didn't want to take out the roasting pan and turn on the oven, so the stock pot method was fine, like how mom made soup. The trick is to sweat out the fat and all the dark meat from the chicken, and the bones add flavor. Adding little water 2 cups at a time helps, in the beginning of the soup process, you don't want a lot of water, you want to slowly reduce all the juices and fats, it works. If I was not making soup today, I'd take that reduced gelatin and freeze it for future soup making or gravies. Home made stocks are totally better than store bought ones.

11. Green papayas added towards the end.

12. Zooks (zucchini) added towards the end.

13. Watercress added towards the end.

The Finished Chicken Soup with Veggies!!!

So now I'm letting that soup rest, I tossed a few dashes of sea salt and pepper to it, now I fold some clothes, drink some java, and get ready to go to work, hopefully I won't forget the styrofoam soup bowls and spoons, and the serving ladle too.

Have a nice day.