Chicken Soup...

So I found deep in the depths of my freezer the other night an 'oven stuffer' that I have been neglecting for a few (3) months. So now that it is getting cooler outside here in the north east, I decided to thaw it out and make something of it.

After having chicken last night at a friend of ours place, I did not want to replicate that dish (chicken pieces in a flavorful liquid with some vegetation and rice).

I began to run the inventory of my chicken knowledge and the myriad of ways to prepare it. I could remove the spine and keel bone and do it in the o'le cast iron skillet...no, (still don't have a splatter screen thingie) that would make a mess. I could roast it up, make mashed potatoes and some kind of vegtable and salad. No, that wouldn't do. I wanted something I didn't have to work very hard for today.

I decided on soup. So I did roast the 'oven stuffer' with a variety of vegitation (carrots, celery, parsnips, half a turnip, dill, and parsley) first. Very roughly chopped up might I add.

I put that into a roasting pan and into a 450 degree oven for an hour and 30 minutes, or until the middle of the breast hit an internal temperature of about 160.

In the mean time I took some more carrots, a large onion, 3 large celery stalks, the other half of the turnip, half a package of white mushrooms (cleaned please), a large bay leaf, dried basil, dried parsley, and pepper. (I didn't salt this for Medical reasons, I'll discuss my 100% avoidance of salt and potassium later on). I added a can of vegtable broth (low sodium), and then 5 cups of water and let that sit for a bit.

Once the chicken was done in the oven, I took it out, let it rest for 5 minutes, and then placed it into the pot with everything else, discared the now spent vegitation and brought it to a boil, then dropped it to a simmer and then left it alone for 3 hours.

I retrieved the chicken, carefuly as to not let any bones fall into the rest of the liquid (though I am sure some did). I let it cool again, and then slowly by hand, took apart the bird and shredded the meat into the soup, after there wasn't any thing left, I let it cook for another hour before adding some pasta (your choice) though I would say a half a pound would do it. Anything more and you'll have too many noodles.

Hope you enjoyed this first installment as much as I did creating the dish and eating it!