Don’t fight it. Instead, buy some Chicken Broth
Here’s how I make it:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon light olive oil
- 1 medium onion, leave the skins and peels on — not need to cut
- 4 carrots — unpeeled, broken into pieces
- 1 rib celery
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 1 bunch of thyme
- leftover vegetables from the week — no broccoli or cauliflower — smell is too strong.
- 3 pounds chicken legs and thighs, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch pieces or 4 pounds chicken backs and/or bones, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed soup kettle over medium-high heat. When oil shimmers, add onion and chicken pieces and sauté until no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes.
Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until chicken releases its juices, about 20 minutes. Increase heat to high; add 2 quarts water, salt and bay leaves. As soon as water comes to a simmer, immediately reduce heat to low again. Cover and simmer until broth is rich and flavorful, 20 to 30 minutes longer.
Strain and discard solids. Broth is ready to use. Or cool to room temperature and refrigerate or freeze.
Or, and here’s my trick. Put the broth back on the stove, and let it boil away, uncovered, until it is reduced to less than a half and inch. This is reduced stock. Let cool, and pour into a clean, empty ice cube trays. Once frozen, remove the little blocks of broth and put into a freezer bag. Now you have a little bitty cube, full of flavor, to use whenever you need that little extra punch of vitamins.
Then, let him have the home-made chocolate ice cream.
beef broth is good too, Asians have been cooking noodles in beef broth for a long time! Big beef bones are so full of nutrients, if you can find some organic, or semi organic ones, even better! But chicken broth is so easy to make and get, and it’s yummo.
You guys sure know how to do summer right, loving the pics of your handsome family.
I used to freeze my chicken broth when Dash was a baby. I would boil his veggies in the broth every meal.
But those added ingredients sound good. What if I don’t have frsh thyme and parsley? Can I used the dried ones?
I like the idea of beef broth more!! Because beef has B vitamins that kids needs — and iron. You can’t get that from chicken. Great idea wifemothemanic!
Louann — dried is awesome — and you can use less herbs that way.
I used to make this with the leftovers and carcass from a roast chicken, and the flavour was brilliant, much better than bought stock. I haven’t been making it since I became vegetarian 6 years ago, but for a number of reasons I’m thinking about relaxing the veggo rules and might start making it again. For one thing, it saves the waste on throwing out leftover chicken!