gardenglory said:
I yearn to make good soup. I just cant seem to be able to get a good broth. I mean I can if I take a day to make it and a ton of clean up. I wish I could make a good one in a bit less time.
fiwit replied -----
Here's what I do...
1. buy a rotisserie chicken in your preferred flavor (I always get lemon pepper)
2. in your big pot, put a couple tbsp of oil (I use olive oil)
3. add as much fresh garlic as you can handle (I typically use an entire bulb, not just a couple cloves)
4. add fresh, diced onion (I buy the small yellow onions, and use an entire onion)
5. have the stove on low while you're adding the the garlic/onions -- sometimes i don't turn it on until I've got all the garlic in.
6. add water in 2 cup increments until you have as much as you want in the pot
7. add other veggies - I cheat and buy the containers of diced celery, diced bell peppers, etc.
8. spice to suit. I use rosemary, basil, sage or poultry seasoning, black pepper, red pepper, ginger... I go sparingly on the red pepper and ginger, but it gives it a nice pop. I dont cook with salt, but you could add some if you wanted.
I've also been known to skin the chicken (when it's cool) and add the skin to the pot, to take advantage of all the seasonings soaked into the skin from the rotisserie cooking.
Bring the whole thing to a boil and add rice. I don't like thin soups, so I add way more rice than is recommended.
If you're home during the day and don't mind having the stove on, put your burner on low and ignore it for a couple hours. If you're in a hurry, put it on medium and it will be ready when the rice is done. You can add the diced chicken any time you want, as long as it's the last thing you add.
If you're using brown rice instead of white, you'll have to cook it longer. Thumbs up
As to measurements for the spices -- couldn't tell you. Hilarious! It seems I"m my mother's daughter after all -- my family eschews recipes. Hilarious! I'll do a couple shakes of black pepper, one shake of red pepper, one shake of ginger, lots of rosemary and basil, a couple - maybe 3-4 shakes of the poultry seasoning.
If you don't want to eat the skin, you can take it out before adding the rice. I leave it in, and eat it.
For me, the most time-consuming bit of this is the garlic and cutting up the rotisserie chicken. Other than that, it's just waiting while the house smells better and better. **insert drool emoticon here** I'll put it on the lowest setting and let it cook all morning or afternoon while I work. It's a huge advantage of working from home.
