One of the things I promised myself I would do, if I ever decided to open a restaurant was that I would feed people for free, so one of the things I'm working on as I move towards my deadline to move to Amsterdam August/September 2012 is finding delicious, budget friendly recipes because I'd like to open my restaurant one day a week where it's free to everyone and anyone.
Hence my chicken soup.
I don't eat soup out of a can, box, jar, not ever. It seems wrong somehow. If I want chicken soup what I do is buy two roasting chickens, roast them, eat the legs and thighs, and save the rest for the soup. For this recipe I stuffed and roasted the chickens with fennel, onions, cloves, green cardamons, black cardamons, and whole cloves of garlic after rubbing both the inside cavity and the outside of the chickens with olive oil, lemon juice, dried thyme, and dried rosemary.
Use the
jus for whatever you're eating the dark meat with, but reserve about half for the chicken stock. The follow morning strip the chickens of skin and other undesirable things, making sure to put aside all the bones (except the third wing joint), leftover juices and fat, and cut the leftover chicken meat into bite size pieces. I also removed the cardamons and the cloves from the carcass before adding the bones, leftover garlic, chopped up stalk of fennel, an onion cut in half, and then salt and pepper to taste.
Make sure the water covers the bones completely and let boil for 2-3 hours, taste, and then reduce to a simmer. Let boil another 2 hours. Pour the contents of the soup pot into a fine mesh strainer, discard everything, and return strained broth to the original pot.
Here are the rest of the ingredients I used:
1/4 cup of peeled and finely chopped white potatoes
2 1/2 cups of peeled white potatoes cut into slightly bigger than bite sized pieces
2 carrots peeled and sliced (make sure to increase the thickness of the slices along the thinner part so all the carrots cook evenly)
1 zucchini sliced into fours, then chopped into bite sized cubes
1/2 cup white mushrooms sliced
1 onion cut into quarters
2 stalks of fennel (1/2 cup) cut into slices
1/8 cup fresh parsley
Salt and Pepper
Add the 1/4 cup of finely chopped potatoes and the bite sized piece of chicken and let boil about 15 - 20 minutes. When you notice the bits of potato have begun to break down (it thickens the broth a bit naturally for a more hearty taste), add the rest of the potatoes, fennel, onion, and carrots. Let simmer 10 - 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and continue to simmer on lowest possible heat with the lid ajar.
Twenty minutes prior to serving, increase the heat to a slight boil and add the zucchini, mushrooms, and salt and pepper to taste if needed. When the zucchini is soft, yet still firm, turn off the heat, add the fresh parsley, taste, and add salt or pepper if needed. Cover for 2 minutes.
Ladle into soup bowls with just slightly more chicken and vegetables than broth. Serve with homemade bread rolls (recipe to come later) and sweet butter (called
beurre doux in French).
Now the real point of this recipe, which will make so much soup I'll have to freeze it (about 3 liters or about 13 cups of soup), is how healthy and cheap it is to make.
Chickens: 11 euros
Vegetables: 3 euros
Now sixteen euros isn't deducting the fact that I served the thighs for two separate meals, so I really only used about 5 euros worth of chicken for the soup. Based on the average serving size, from one batch of soup I could feed over a dozen people.
When I open the kitchen it will be from 12 - 2 pm and once the food is gone - it'll be gone, but with 100 euros I could make 12 pots of chicken soup and feed 150 people. Now I can't realistically make 12 pots of soup in my kitchen or in the kitchen I hope to have in Amsterdam even, but I could make 3 or 4.
I could feed 50 people and spend less than I might spend on a dinner out.
This is part of my plan in Amsterdam. I'm going to feed people. I'm going to put the word out there that on Monday afternoons there is a place where you get a delicious, healthy meal and for free whether you're a successful businessman, a student, or someone who just wants to save a little extra money that Monday.
I'm going to put my faith in my chicken soup. This will be the first thing I'll serve for free lunch. Now I just need to find forty seven similar recipes to get me through a year of Mondays.
