CHICKEN SCRATCH RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Place the chicken, celery, carrots, onions, parsnip (if using), parsley, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt in a large soup pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to very low. Adjust the heat until the soup is “smiling”: barely moving on the surface, with an occasional bubble breaking through. Cook uncovered, until the chicken is very tender and falling off the bone, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• When cool enough to handle, use tongs to transfer chicken from the pot to a container. Taste the broth and continue to simmer it until it is concentrated and tasty. Strain broth through a fine sieve (or a colander lined with cheesecloth) into a separate container. Discard all the solids from the strainer (or reserve the vegetables, chill and serve with vinaigrette, if you wish).
• Refrigerate chicken pieces and broth separately for at least 8 hours (or up to 3 days), until a thick layer of yellow fat has risen to the top of the broth.
• When ready to finish the soup, use your fingers to separate chicken breast meat from bones and skin. Discard bones and skin. Use two forks to pull the breast meat apart into soft chunks, or use a knife and cut into bite-size pieces. (Reserve dark meat for another use.)
• Skim chicken fat from top of broth and set aside. Place 3 tablespoons of the fat in a soup pot with a lid. Add leeks, stir to coat, and heat over medium heat until leeks begin to fry. Then reduce the heat to a gentle sizzle and cook, stirring often, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
• Add carrots, sprinkle with salt, stir, and cover the pot. Cook until vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes more. (Keep in mind that vegetables will continue to cook in the soup.) Do not brown.
• Pour broth into pot with vegetables and heat to a simmer. Add noodles and simmer until heated through, soft and plumped with chicken broth. Add the breast meat, then taste broth and add salt and pepper to taste. For best flavor, soup should have some golden droplets of fat on top; if needed, add more chicken fat one teaspoon at a time.
• Serve immediately, in a tureen or from the pot, sprinkling each serving with herbs.

Steps:

• 1. For this recipe, you will need 1 higher-welfare roast chicken carcass, with leftover chicken attached.
  2. Peel and roughly chop the onions, roughly chop 2 carrots and celery sticks, then place them in a large pan with the bay leaves, peppercorns, a pinch of sea salt and the chicken carcass.
  3. Fill the pan with cold water so that everything is covered, then place on a high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface from time to time.
  4. About 20 minutes before the stock is ready, crack on with the base of the soup: peel the remaining carrots and slice ½cm thick with the remaining celery. Peel and finely slice the garlic and shallots. Pick the parsley leaves, finely chopping the leaves and stalks. Roughly shred the spinach.
  5. Place the butter and 1 tablespoon of oil in another large pan on a low heat, add the garlic, shallots and parsley stalks and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, or until softened.
  6. Add the carrots and celery and cook for a further 5 minutes.
  7. When the stock is ready, remove the chicken carcass, pull off any remaining pieces of meat and leave to one side, then discard the carcass.
  8. Strain the stock through a sieve into the veg pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
  9. Add the seasonal greens and cook for a further 10 minutes, adding the spinach for the last minute.
  10. Finish the soup by squeezing in the lemon juice, then taste and season to perfection, if needed.
  11. Divide between bowls and top with any leftover shredded chicken, a sprinkling of parsley leaves and a good hit of black pepper.