Chicken soup for the bowl

Densely flavored broth is the key to these recipes

It’s all about the broth. OK, maybe not all, but the cornerstone of a tasty chicken soup is in the savory liquid made of water in which bones, meat and/ or vegetables have been simmered. In the bowl, the soup is best when the broth is tasty enough to be eaten alone, although the broth-alone cup is generally thought of as a potential cure when cold season hits.

I often use store-bought rotisserie chicken to build flavor into my chicken broth. I salvage the bones and skin and plop them into a Dutch oven. Although it’s more economical to just use water, I add four cups of storebought chicken broth along with 4 cups of water. I appreciate the flavor that the boxed broth adds. Vegetables added to the pot vary depending on what I have in the fridge. Usually I throw in a few stalks of fresh parsley, a couple of onion quarters and some carrots or celery.

I bring the mix to a simmer on high heat, then reduce the heat to mediumlow to low, cover and gently simmer for 30-40 minutes. I pluck out and discard large bones with tongs, then strain the remaining hodgepodge into a bowl through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing on the bits and pieces left in the strainer with a spatula to extract as much broth as possible. Voila!

Soup-based meals can be delicious as well as practical, many recipes providing enough for two meals, but of course that depends on the crowd size at your table.

At my house I freeze half of it to serve in a few weeks when the timing is right.

Lemon chicken and orzo soup

Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons butter 1 small onion, finely diced 8 cups chicken broth 2 sprigs fresh thyme

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 cup orzo

6 large egg yolks 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2 lemons)

2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

PROCEDURE

1. Melt butter in large saucepan on medium heat. Add onion; cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Increase heat to mediumhigh; add broth, thyme sprigs, salt and pepper.

Bring to boil. Add orzo and cook until tender, 12-14 minutes. Remove from heat and discard thyme sprigs. 2. Whisk egg yolks and lemon juice in bowl until combined. Whisking constantly, slowly pour yolk mixture into hot soup off the heat. Stir in chicken, cover and let sit for 10 minutes, until chicken is heated through. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with chives. Serve.

Source: Cook’s Country magazine