Chicken Soup Recipe - Making Your Own

This article is not so much about my own Chicken Soup Recipe, but more about how you can develop your own unique version. I think everyone who likes to cook chicken should be able to make a good soup with it. It's a great way to use up leftovers, and an even better way to make sure you get enough vegetables in your diet.

While there are countless variations of techniques and ingredients in chicken soup, there is one constant that no one can do without: a good stock or broth. Without this your soup will have a watery taste, and that is no fun to eat. Also, a tasty broth is more likely to be healthier for you, since where there is flavor there is usually also nutrients. A good stock typically contains some gelatin, which comes from dissolved collagen from bones and connective tissue. Gelatin is great for carrying both flavor and nutrients because it can interact with organic molecules better than water can.

So does that mean you have to make your own chicken stock in order to have a good chicken soup recipe? Not necessarily, as there are many good chicken stocks available at grocery stores. I prefer the kind you get in boxes, but the canned stuff is usually good too. I'll use the powdered or cubed stuff in a pinch, but I find they have too much salt and other flavor enhancers for my liking. I'm also not sure how much gelatin they contain, if any.

However, if you do prefer to make your own stock, there are many excellent Web sites available that give instructions. Basically all you have to do is simmer chicken bones along with some onions, carrots and celery for an hour or two. Regardless of how you make it, there is one piece of advice I can give you that will always work: after the stock is made, remove the solid ingredients, and boil off some of the water to reduce the amount to half. Concentrating the stock will intensify the flavor, making everything you use it in that much more flavorful.

After the stock, your next choice is which vegetables to use. I've already mentioned the classic onion, carrot and celery mix, but there are so many other choices available. From time to time I enjoy some chopped spinach in my chicken soup, or any other leafy green I happen to have on hand. Frozen peas are another great option, but remember to add them about 5 minutes before the soup is done cooking, unless you prefer your peas mushy. Tomatoes are another great vegetable to use in chicken soup, and they have the added benefit of bolstering a weak-tasting stock. You can also use "substitute" vegetables to replace some of the classics: fennel in place of celery, leeks or shallots for the onions, parsnips for carrots, etc. And let's not forget about all the peppers out there, both hot and mild!

When it comes to vegetables, I usually just add whatever I have in my refrigerator. Any leftovers or veggies that are about to expire become candidates. I usually avoid root vegetables as they take longer to cook through, but if they are already cooked then they are fair game too. If not, then just chop them up into small pieces so they cook more quickly.

Next in the list of ingredients to select is the type of starch to add. There are so many to choose from that there is no way I could list them all, but one thing to think of is how much the starch you choose will thicken the broth. This will depend on how quickly it dissolves into the broth and how long you will be cooking it for. Most people don't want to thicken their chicken soup too much, so pasta is the usual choice for most people. If there is one variant of chicken soup that is more famous than all the others, it would definitely be chicken noodle soup.

But noodles are far from being the only choice. Brown rice is my go-to starch for chicken soup. Like barley, it will thicken a broth given time, but it normally takes more than an hour for that to happen. I like how it swells in the liquid of the soup, and how it adds just a touch of viscosity to it. It helps the flavor of the soup cling to the tongue for just a little bit, enhancing the taste experience.

Lentils are a very healthy starch to use, and there are a lot of varieties to choose from. Red lentils will practically dissolve into the soup, while the little green gems known as Puy lentils will keep their shape almost forever. At the other end of the spectrum are potatoes, which given enough time will thicken a soup enough to stand your spoon in it.

If you want to go for big-time comfort food, then dumplings should be your selection. Personally I have never made dumplings, but I know some people that swear by it.

Lastly, you need to decide what spices and herbs to go for. Chicken has such a neutral flavor that you should pay more attention to matching your spices to your vegetables you used. The basic spices that are considered "classic" would be parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...just as in the song. These work very well when you use the classic veggies. But when you use other vegetables, then there are some really good combinations available. For instance, if you used tomatoes then you would be making a mistake to leave out the basil. Spinach and marjoram work very well together, while tarragon and fennel make a good pair.

But don't think just about spice and herbs. If you want a really refreshing flavor, add a bit of lemon juice. Don't forget about the garlic either, as it works with almost all other ingredients. And lastly, don't be afraid to add a bit of spice. You don't need to add so much that it burns the palate; just a little will heighten all the other flavors.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I left chicken itself out of the discussion. Any cooked or raw chicken will do, but you'll find that white meat is the best in soups. Dark meat, while tastier, has a much higher fat content and tends to make a soup feel greasy. White meat for soups and pastas, dark meat for everything else is the rule that I go by.

I hope you aren't disappointed that there wasn't a recipe that you could follow to the letter in this article. The truth is I don't usually cook that way anymore. I found I made much better meals once I understood the basics of whatever meal I was making I could improvise and make improvements and substitutions based on my tastes, who I was cooking for, and what I had in stock.

Erik Christensen

Curried Apple and Butternut Squash Soup

I love fall and everything is brings. Cool temps, wearing jeans, leaves changing colors, pumpkin patches and the smells of nutmeg and rain to name a few favorites. Few things say more about fall than the bounty of produce one can pick up at a local famers' market. Historically speaking, I have never really been a fan of Butternut squash soup. The texture reminds me of baby food and the flavor tends to be more like paste than of my earthy harvest desires, but the addition of apple, carrot and ginger have completely changed my outlook and now my Fall dreams come true every time I make it.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoon butter

2 Tablespoon olive oil

1.5 onions chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 apples peeled and chopped (i used braeburn, cause I love them)

1 carrot, chopped

2.5 lbs of butternut squash-peeled and chopped up

4 Cups chicken broth

Red pepper flakes

2 Tablespoons salt + some white pepper

1-2 Tablespoons yellow curry powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

2T honey

1T grated fresh ginger

Directions

Put olive oil and butter in a pot & get them warm.

Add onions. Add garlic. Let saute for a bit-just until they are translucent.

Add apple and carrot & 1/2 curry powder, salt & pep

Add butternut squash

Saute for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of spices & honey.

When everything is pretty well cooked (tender), add broth and boil for about 20 minutes. Blend in batches.

Additions: creme fraiche, sour cream, pancetta bits, turkey sausage bits, bacon crumbles or fresh chives.

The Right Containers For Your Tomatoes

Making use of containers as you plant your favorite fruit? Don't you know that though we often neglect it, there are containers that would give off better results than the others? Little did you know but the container you use for your plant affects the growing of your plant. Containers are very useful to our growing of homegrown tomatoes. When you do indoor planting, the container holds your plant in a more compact state. An addition to this is that your plant becomes much easier to handle since they have become mobile and easier to transfer from one place to another. You might think that as long as the container can carry soil, you are already set for planting tomatoes in containers. But actually that's not all there is to know. The kind or the type, the quality, the size and the color are the factors you should think about. The type of planting technique should at one hand be another consideration.

For indoor planting, it is best to use the fiberglass or plastic pots. These containers are the ones that I would recommend you because of reasons that would benefit both you and your plant. There are basically two major explanations why this has been the popular choice. The first major reason is for economical purposes. These pots are larger than the others and can carry larger tomato plants. They have larger spaces and your plant's roots can fully develop in this larger area. The second reason is that the soil in which the tomatoes are planted should remain moist. Plastic and fiberglass pots will keep your plants from drying up even if you expose your tomatoes to the heat they badly needed.

If you are doing hydroponics, the container you can use can either be a cement trough, a glass jar, an earthenware crock, a fiberglass tank or a container made of metal. Those that are made up of metal and concrete should be painted with asphalt emulsion before use. Painting it from the inside shall avoid the toxicity in your plants. For glass containers, you are to consider the opposite side. You need to paint the outer portion with dark color to avoid chemical change as the sunlight hits your container. Another reason why it should be painted with black is that the dark color prevents the possible growth of algae caused by the sun. However, when you do hydroponics, the fiberglass is the best option for a container.

The very thing you need to consider when you grow your tomatoes with the help of containers is that no matter how huge or small your containers are, it should be able to carry the weight of your plant. Often do we neglect it but it is true that the container matters. It is important that you use that which fits your tomato variety and the kind of planting technique that you would like to put into practice. Little may containers be, but they have big contributions on growing the juiciest and tastiest homegrown bests.

Paul Dale is the author of "Tomato Growing Secrets". For more great information on growing tomatoes in containers go to our website. The website contains valuable information on anything related to growing your own tomatoes.