I find it time consuming to post the “how-to” videos of food prep on various social media, and after posting a video of the soup I made the other day, I figured I’d share my go-to recipe for a soup base that you can add any sort of meat to if you like.
The above pic is made with chicken stock that I made. We often roast chickens or purchase already cooked roast chickens, so I always make my own stock. Stock is good to use for gravies, soups, and for flavour to rice, potatoes, and other dishes.
To make stock:
Place the chicken bones in a pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for four hours. When finished, strain the liquid into freezable containers (if you’re not going to use it right away). You can also refrigerate it if you know you’ll use it with a week or two for other dishes. Sometimes I add lemon balm, oregano, parsley, onion skins, and other herbs to the stock liquid as it boils. Then I strain those out with the bones after it has simmered for the recommended time. I also take out the collagen and bone marrow and add it to the stock if it has easily separated from the bones during the simmering process. When you make soup, this disappears into the broth. It’s healthy for you and you won’t know it’s in there.
I’ve also made stock out of ham bones and beef bones. This is also nice to use for soup bases and other dishes. Sometimes we roast the bones afterward to make them easier to compost.
For the soup itself, I don’t measure anything, nor do I have an exact number of veggies I use. I do what I want to, so I encourage you to simply use your intuition.
Soup:
Chop carrots, celery, leeks, potatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, kale, bok choy, cabbage and any other veggie or combo of veggies you want or have in your kitchen. I use what I have on hand, and what I feel like eating at the time. I chop all veggies into small pieces so it takes less time to cook down.
In a large pot, I add olive oil, ghee, or butter into the bottom. I cook/sweat all the veggies in the oil/ghee/butter until tender, then I add the amount of stock I want. I also add extra water (2-3 cups) if I need/want a large pot of soup. (You can see how exact my measurements are, haha…)
At this point, I add cayenne pepper, salt, garlic salt, black pepper, sometimes turmeric, oregano, thyme, parsley (love me lots of parsley), sage, and any other herbs or seasonings I want. I never measure – I realize there are “measurers” out there, cringing at my lack of preciseness, but I always do this to taste.
Now, I add any frozen or canned veggies I might want such as peas, beans, corn. Then I bring it to a boil. Add in cooked ground beef, roast beef, cooked chicken – whatever meat you fancy or have on hand to use. For me, soups are a great way to use leftover meat if it’s not enough for an entire meal. Once it has come to a boil, I put a lid on it and simmer it for 20 minutes. This makes everything tender, and finishes cooking the veggies.
Soup is my go-to for aches, pains, when I’m not feeling 100%, or I’m processing and shifting, and my body needs gentle foods to process, or a reset. It’s comforting and satisfying to make yourself.
If you don’t make your own stock, use store bought. Sometimes I add bouillon in for extra flavour. It’s your soup so do what you want!
Cooking is one way I feel productive when my ego needs to shift gears. It’s satisfying to have something nutritious for myself and my family. But you know what else is nice – not making itself yourself sometimes. So, feel free to purchase homemade from a store or farmer’s market and enjoy!
And a nice loaf of sourdough bread is great to enjoy with soup, so if you’re in the Winnipeg area, order from Prairie Wolf Bakery – they do not disappoint!
Thanks for Cooking with Mama!
Kellective Creations 