Soup!

It's one of my favorite days of the year- the first pot of soup as we enter the fall season.

As the last meal from the whole chicken I made the other day, the last of the meat was carved off and the carcass was tossed into the pot with the leftover broth and drippings and the soup process began. First, a stock of the chicken bones:


Once the stock was made, I strained it and poured it back into the pot. I then made a broth, cooking a couple of chicken breasts with just a basic mirepoix of onion, carrots and celery, with a few added aromatics and let that simmer for about 45 minutes (until the fresh chicken was done cooking), removed the meat, and strained again (this time the strainer was lined with cheesecloth). As the chicken cooled enough for me to cut it, I cooked some (whole wheat) egg noodles on the side. I then pulled the meat off the bones, cutting in smaller pieces where necessary, and voilà! Chicken noodle soup (my usual caveat of only having my phone for pictures- I REALLY need to get my camera fixed!):


It's too bad it's not quite soup-eating season yet, but it'll be here soon enough (yay!). In the meantime, it's nice to have left my boyfriend's freezer full of nice, nutritious liquid penicillin, in case he finds himself with a cold or just in the need for warm comfort food (I seem to get much more inspired in his spacious kitchen to my tiny one- plus, I like cooking for others, especially the sweet, appreciative ones). We both did a few tastings throughout the process. It was one of the more flavorful chicken soups I've ever made. Usually I prefer turkey, due to it's added richness in flavor, but this was pretty darn good.