Karl’s Chicken Soup – Makes roughly 4 bowls.

Ingredients

• Half a chicken. Follow the 55 cloves and a chicken recipe from Jan 2nd.
• One large white onion
• 2 large carrots
• 1 large stalk of celery
• 16oz of white wine
• 16oz of water
• 16oz of chicken stock
• salt/pepper to taste
• 1/2lb of pasta (Farfalle) if desired
• cheesecloth

Directions

A traditional Mirepoix has a 2:1:1 ratio of onions, carrots, and celery. While I think they carrots and celery contribute to the taste of the final product, I’m not a big fan of those vegetables cooked so I tend to skimp on them. I dice the onion but the carrots and celery I purposely rough chop so its easy to fish back out of my bowl when I want to eat around them.

Remove all of the meat from the chicken bones. Put the meat back in the fridge and wrap the bones tightly in cheesecloth. I find this keeps the bones in one place and makes them easier to remove as a whole later. Fishing chicken bones out of individual portions of soup is not fun.

Take all the gelled fats/greases from the bottom of the chicken bowl and toss it in a large stockpot. Turn on high heat until it has all degelled and then add the onions and reduce the heat. If you tossed the fat/gell add a few swirls of olive oil to the pot and cook the onions in that.

Once the onions are a nice translucent color, add the carrots and celery. Cook for a few more minutes and then add the liquids to the pot. As to the wine, I use whatever white is currently open. I am always sure to use something that I would actually drink and not a cooking wine or anything ultra cheap. Add the chicken stock and water as well. Let this cook for a few minutes and then drop in the cheesecloth full of bones.

Bring the entire pot to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Let it cook for as long as you’d like but pay attention to the amount of fluid left in the pot. If it gets too low, add some water. I tend to let it simmer for at least an hour, sometimes longer.

About 20 minutes before I plan on pulling it from the heat I add all of the chicken meat back in and let it warm up. If you planned on adding pasta, now is the time to start cooking that in a separate pot, otherwise just turn off the burner and cover the pot when the meat is warm.

Cook the pasta until its al dente. Al dente will be a moving target depending on the type and size of the pasta you chose, but for the Barilla brand Farfalle pasta I used most recently, it was about 7 minutes. Drain the pasta and pour directly into the soup pot. Let the soup simmer for another 10-15 minutes then just turn off the heat and cover.

Serve with fresh bread and top with Parmesan cheese if desired.

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