My Grandmother's Chicken Soup
Liz Rueven of Kosher Like me shares her grandmother’s chicken soup story, along with her updates tips on how to keep clean up and preparation simple. This passover, we are reminded of the notion of using what we have and that our ancestors and relatives were able to stretch their ingredients and make many meals repurposing the contents again and again. Perhaps we we all go through this pandemic, there is no time like the present to meditate on how the wisdom of past generation can become so helpful to us today.
As Covid-19 begins to take over, and we hunker down in our homes, stories like Liz’s warm our hearts and remind us the importance of keeping family and religious traditions. as you launch into your virtual passover seder’s take a moment to watch this amazing video and if you’ve got the ingredients or ones that resemble them, you too can enjoy this comforting and delicious chicken soup. PS-dont forget to try my soup latkes recipe inspired by Liz’s grandma’s amazing idea to mash up all the soup vegetables and repurpose them into pancakes.
Serving Size: Serves 8
Ingredients
One 3 1/2 lb. chicken, cut in 1/8th's, rinsed and trimmed of extra fat and skin.
1 onion, quartered (I remove them at the end)
4-5 carrots, scraped and sliced into bite size pieces
2 parsnips, scraped and cut into big chunks (I remove them at the end)
4 stalks celery, washed and cut into bite size pieces
3-5 cloves garlic, chunked (optional)
1 zucchini, washed and cut into bite size pieces (optional)
1 handful fresh dill, washed and rough chopped
1-2 tomatoes, chopped (optional)
1 heaping tablespoon soup enhancer, like Osem chicken or vegetable powder
Instructions
Place all ingredients, except dill and zucchini, in a large pot.
Add cold water to a level about 2 inches above the ingredients. DO NOT add too much water or the soup will not be rich enough. This is the trick!
Slowly, bring liquid to boil and immediately turn it to simmer. Keep an eye on the simmer, making sure it is low and slow (boiling will toughen the chicken). Leave the lid cracked open a bit so it doesn't overflow.
After about 10 min, skim the surface of the soup of any gunk. Continue simmering with the lid cracked, for about 1 1/2 hours.
In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the fresh dill and zucchini. Bring the soup back to simmer for 30-45 minutess.
Remove from heat, uncover and allow to cool. Pull out the chicken and cool separately so it doesn't continue cooking.
Refrigerate overnight and remove any accumulated fat before serving.
Serve with thin noodles, alphabet noodles, matzoh balls, or soup croutons.