Soup from Reclaimed Materials

I’ve been meaning to share a few recipes on this blog, but haven’t quite gotten around to it. Thought I’d get this one out before the evenings get too warm for it.

Okay — non-Martha as this is, my partner and I live a fairly bachelor (and busy) lifestyle, so we tend to frequent those ready-made roast chickens from the grocery store for weeknight dinners. (For the record, I do cook on weekends!)

If you also partake of the ubiquitous birds, then you can make a dandy soup broth from the remains. It’s so easy.

Once you’ve cut all the meat off your chicken, take the remaining bones and dump them into a big pot. If there’s any of that yucky gelatinous stuff in the bottom of the bag, dump that in as well. It’s loaded with flavor — just get over its appearance. Pour in five cups of water.

Now, toss in a medium onion, cut in sixths, and four or five peeled garlic cloves. Throw in a carrot or two, and a couple stalks of celery if you have them. If you have fresh springs of rosemary and/or thyme, toss them in as well. If you don’t, no worries.

Bring all this to a boil, and then turn the heat way down. You want this to simmer without boiling for 3-4 hours. Your house will smell wonderful the whole time.

At the end of 3-4 hours, turn off the heat and let things cool. Then strain out all the solids.

Now you can put this broth into containers, and freeze it. It’s a wonderful thing to have on hand for quick meals. Just add whatever veggies you have on hand, and maybe some frozen potstickers or tortellini, a little leftover rice, or some pasta, maybe a few more chopped herbs, some leftover chicken from your next bird . . . . Variations abound.

(For the record, these photos are of a two-bird batch. That’s what kind of week it was last week.)