Root Vegetable Chicken Soup (from scratch)

Do you want to really impress your girlfriend or wife, or just as importantly yourself? My friends, making chicken soup from scratch is too easy not to give this a try. And here I am to help you out

So what do you need? Obviously raw chicken, and then your choice of onions (scallions in this case), rutabagas, carrots, cabbage, and other vegetables of your choice (or mine). You’ll also want to add in pasta.
This is an easy one dish meal and with the exception of the cutting board, you won’t need to use anything else. Because cleaning is never fun.

So step one is to pour about 3 cups of water and put it on medium heat. It will boil in time, and you will need that time to slice up the (raw) chicken. The bonus in that is you get to use a big knife to do it. And I do love knives. I generally like to use boneless and skinless chicken thigh fillets. Be sure to scrape off the obvious fat, as you don’t need that around your waist. Don’t worry there will be more than enough for flavor. Cut the chicken one by one into small size bits, less than ½ inch. By the time you cut the chicken apart your water should be boiling. If you want, at this point add just tablespoon of olive oil and a small amount of salt. Wow that’s a long step one…

Next let the chicken cook slowly and cut up the rutabagas, and carrots and onions. You’ll want them to be cooked slowly so they come out tender and soft.

Now that the chicken is getting close to done (about 10 minutes, you can add in the dry pasta. I used angel hair pasta, and rather than break it up in two, I broke it in thirds. I want soup, not spaghetti here. There will be enough water to cook the pasta in. But you can always add in more water. At this point you can add the spices in… the chicken stock and fat will give it a superb flavor and the spices will top it off. I used cumin, curry, and real garlic for the kick, and rosemary, dill weed and basil for the chicken.

After the pasta is moving (not stiff) you can add in the vegetables and lower the temperature. Now all you have to do is wait. In fact just keep it on the lowest setting of warm for about 30-45 minutes so that all the flavors blend and the vegetables become saturated and soft. Trust me it will be perfect after that. This recipe should give you enough for 4 servings.

Easy Chicken Soup

It’s hard to think that anyone can catch a cold during our ‘cold’ season, but this past week, my fiancé was sick so soon enough I was too. And that’s where “Jewish Penicillin” comes in – Chicken soup.

Chicken soup by itself is a rather boring affair especially when it’s from a can. Apart from the Andy Warhol art that came out of it, the world is not better off for it. The good news is that while we still can’t eliminate the common cold, we can still fight it with chicken soup.

So here is how to take your can of soup and make it into a meal that your grandmother would be proud of. First we’re going to take the can of soup as a base. The best can for this is the ‘double pasta’ can; alternatively you could use any pasta and cook it in. Next, you can get a roasted chicken at the supermarket for even less than the cost of an uncooked whole chicken. Cut about a quarter of it into very small pieces.

Next, open a small can of carrots (the half size can) and a (small) can of mushrooms; you can pour in the liquids directly. You could also have a chopped onion and celery mixed in.

The spices I use for this are rosemary, cumin, curry, and just a small amount of salt. I also use enough garlic to scare away any vampires.

If you want to take this recipe to the next step, skip the can and use fresh chicken and you can cook the chicken and pasta at the same time.

An important “ingredient” in this mix is time… let the soup simmer for at least 30 minutes if not more, it’s essential that flavors blend with each other. You may also have to add water from time to time so that your soup does not dry out while on the stove. Enjoy and feel better.