I've got two bones to pick with homemade chicken soup: time and taste. For years I made chicken soup the standard way--by boiling a chicken with celery, carrots, onions and herbs for a few hours. After straining the broth, separating the meat, and discarding the spent vegetables and bones, I'd start the process all over again, chopping more carrots, celery and onion for the soup itself.
Not only was that method redundant and time-consuming (did I really need two sets of vegetables?), but the resulting soup tasted like a cold remedy. To compensate, I'd add a can of tomatoes, extra vegetables, another spice or two and a few shakes of hot pepper sauce. Before I knew it, I had turned my chicken soup into vegetable soup.
Luckily, I've discovered how to knock hours off the cooking time and still end up with soup that tastes even better than from-scratch. Just start with a rotisserie chicken and chicken broth from the can or carton.
I also have developed a basic formula, so whether I feel like a simple chicken noodle soup, a more elaborate curried chicken-vegetable soup or an Italian-inspired chicken tortellini soup, the directions, proportions and method are the same. Actually, because the basic chicken soup base makes almost 4 quarts, you can prepare two different soups, if you'd like. Just use half of the soup base and half of the suggested ingredients in the chart, then proceed as directed. Let the remaining soup base cool before covering and refrigerating up to three days. Then try another "soup du jour," using half the ingredients called for.
These soups (at right) are warm and comforting enough to heal the sick, but they are really intended for the work-weary cook who needs to prepare a soul-satisfying meal in a bowl--quickly.
Copyright 2004 USA Weekend and columnist Pam Anderson. All rights reserved.
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