Chicken Stock + Vegetable Soup
If you care about saving the planet, please start with yourself first. Seriously! And if there is one certain way to enhance your health, it is through weekly homemade stocks––rich and vibrant, of chicken, vegetable, or bone.
If using chicken, start with a good one. Be sure to start with a chicken that was raised well, pastured and eating organic grains.
Chickens are supposed to roam pastures, soak up the sun, take dusts baths, eat grasses, bugs, insects, worms, and everything they may find in the soil. Try your best to eat poultry that has never been given antibiotics, hormones, and steroids, and has not been supplemented with GMO corn, wheat, and soy. Those are bad for you and the planet!
The “free-range” label doesn’t mean much––possibly there is a door that allows birds access to air once a day, but mostly they are crowded in barns. And “vegetarian fed” doesn’t really make sense either, because chickens are omnivores and prefer the protein of worms and bugs, and the grains they are fed are loaded with GMOs, glyphosate, and lectins. This is not what you want in your diet.
Look for poultry and eggs that are pasture-raised.
As a general rule, know that all chickens, even if raised on pastures 24/7, are still supplemented. Chickens do need a bit of grain, too––organic grain (non-GMO corn and oats) is okay.s long as it is non-GMO, and the feed doesn’t contain soy, you should be fine.
Here is one way to be healthier. Make your own stock from a whole chicken carcass, onions, carrots, fennel, celery and some herbs.
Chicken Stock
A beautiful stock is clear. The vegetables can be rough-cut, as they will be strained out.
The way to master a clear stock is not to boil it. Keep it low and slow. Add a bowl of leftover vegetables from last night’s dinner and you have an instant, healthful soup!
Ingredients
8–12 cups cold water depending on the size of the pot and the size of the chicken
1 whole chicken or 1 chicken carcass
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped fennel
3 cloves (or more) chopped garlic 1 small bunch thyme, chopped
3 bay leaves
Directions
Place all ingredients in the pot. You may want to cut the chicken in half or into parts.
Bring everything to a light boil, but as soon as the water boils, turn it down to a simmer.
Simmer on low heat for 2 hours. Remove the chicken after 75 minutes and allow the meat to cool.
Continue cooking the vegetables on a slow simmer for 45 more minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Strain.
Discard the vegetables and chicken.
This is your stock to begin your delicious and nutrient dense soups. A box of organic stock off the grocery shelf is NOT the same….
October Vegetable Soup
When the garden lingers with the last eggplant and tons of peppers and a few tomatoes, this is my go-to! This is a quick and easy way to use last night’s vegetables for a great soup.
Ingredients
1 large eggplant, cut into 2-3-inch chunks
½ cup olive oil
2 red peppers, halved, deseeded, and cut into long strips
2 medium zucchini, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 onions, peeled, chopped into small chunks
3–4 tomatoes, halved and each half cut into small pieces
Handful (or more) cherry tomatoes
3 large sprigs rosemary
4–5 sprigs thyme
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (dried)
10–12 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1–2 cups small-cut vegetable (optional; choose one that you have on hand (fennel, carrots, celery, maybe a sweet potato or cubes of squash)
1 cup Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, grated
Herb paste (see below)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Determine which vegetables cook faster and combine them: for example, zucchini and tomatoes take less time, so toss them with garlic. Eggplant and peppers take a bit more time. Celery and carrots and fennel take about the same time, so combine those together; be generous with thyme if you have enough.
In a large bowl with 4–5 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt, toss the eggplant, peppers and onions to coat them well. Then transfer to a sheet pan and roast for about 3o minutes, until just cooked.
Put the tomatoes in the bowl with 1–2 tablespoons of oil, the rosemary, thyme, or Italian seasonings, and salt. Toss, then spread out on a baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes, until just cooked but still retaining their shape.
To serve, spoon the vegetables into the base of a large flat-bottomed bowl, ladle over the stock and a dollop of herb paste, and top with cheese and serve.
Herb Paste
One little technique that I love to do with all the herbs of my garden is to make an oil-and-herb mixture in the food processor and then fill ice cube trays. This recipe is the perfect place to use that cubed deliciousness.
To make the herb oil, put basil, parsley, garlic, a pinch of salt, and olive oil in a food processor, and buzz it to form a thick paste.
And do join us for Brain Health in Goshen, Vermont, October 15–20, 2023!