Everyone should have a chicken soup recipe up their sleeve. It’s a cure all, wholesome and warming, and exactly what you need when you’re not feeling your best. Keeping up with my current theme of things to eat when you and baby are sick (sadly we’re not getting better very quickly), this is a chicken soup recipe that I’ve adapted from the one I make at work. We make about 60 portions per week but it sells out within days. You could skip the first three steps and use store bought chicken stock, but personally I recommend making your own chicken as it allows you to control the flavour and sodium levels. It does mean starting out the day before or starting dinner a few hours in advance, but this is such a simple recipe. It’s a great thing to make if you’ve roasted a chicken the night before. This is so easy to make that Josh cooked it last night while I shouted instructions from under a blanket on the couch. If he can do it, then anyone can.
Chicken Soup
1 chicken carcass
1 chicken breast (you could save one from the roast chicken)
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
sprig of thyme
4 carrots
half a bunch of celery
small coin sized piece of ginger
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 cup of frozen peas
1 cup of small pasta for soup, like risoni or stars
salt and pepper
olive oil
1. If you have purchased a chicken carcass or de-boned a chicken yourself, place it in an oven dish with the chicken breast, a large carrot roughly chopped and an onion, halved, skin on. Roast this in an 180 degree oven for about half an hour until it the carcass is caramelised and golden brown and the chicken breast cooked through. If you’re using the carcass from a roast chicken and a saved chicken breast then don’t worry about it!
2. Place the roasted carcass, chicken breast, carrot, onion, two cloves of garlic, thyme, piece of ginger and a couple of celery ribs from your half bunch into a large pot and cover with water. Add two pinches of salt and a some cracked pepper or a few of peppercorns.
3. Bring the water to the boil and then reduce heat and allow your stock to simmer for at least 3 hours. Remove carcass and chicken breast. Remove any meat from the carcass and reserve with the chicken breast. Discard other solids in the stock by straining stock through a sieve.
4. Shred chicken breast meat.
5. Dice remaining carrot, onion, and celery. Finely chop garlic. In another pot add a slug of olive oil and sauté onion, garlic, carrot and celery until the latter two are tender and the onion is translucent.
6. Add your chicken stock and bring to a the boil.
7. Add pasta to soup. Keep and eye on it and keep stirring as this sort of pasta easily sticks to the bottom of pots.
8. When pasta is cooked add shredded chicken meat and frozen peas. Cook for a further five minutes and then remove from heat.
9. Season with salt and pepper to taste, garnish with finely sliced spring onions.
Steps 1-3 can be done up to five days in advance. This makes three adult portions of soup plus 2 baby serves enough for a large dinner and lunch the next day. Soup will keep for up to a week. This recipe multiplies extremely well!

























