Chicken soup & pastina

Making soup is easy if you happen to have a chicken carcass lying around. I, of course, usually do.

I covered the remnants of the roasted chicken carcass with water in a dutch oven, and turned to high heat. This one actually had quite a bit of meat left over on it, so it held promise. Of course, the more left over on your chicken, the better the soup will be. Roughly chopped and added to stock: 1 celery, 1 carrot, 4 cloves garlic. Added 2 bay leaves and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Covered to bring it rapidly to boil, uncovered and let it cook at a low boil. After about 1 hour, fished out as much of the chicken as was possible and began to strip off any useable meat, avoiding skin and fatty bits. Chopped into somewhat even pieces and set aside. Returned stripped bones to pot, added a little water because it had reduced down a bit too much and allowed stock to cook for 25 more minutes. Strained into separate container and set aside. In same pot, melted 1 tablespoon chicken fat and 1 tablespoon butter until hot and added 1/2 onion, 1 celery, 1 large carrot, all diced to approximately the same size. Sautéed until soft, added 1 diced sweet potato, and 1 pinch red pepper flakes. Added back chicken stock and 1 bouillon cube and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Added 1/2 cup each of barley and lima beans. Simmered for 5 more minutes, then added 2 tablespoons tomato paste and stirred well. Added reserved chicken meat, about 1/3 cup frozen green peas, let cook for a minute or so then added a handful of minced parsley.

In a separate pot I boiled half a package of pastina until done. Divided into bowls and poured the hot soup over the top.

Jeremy came upstairs looking for floor cleaner and ended up staying for soup. This pleased us, especially as he was willing to go out into the rain to procure another bottle of wine when needed.