cold season. it’s a bitch.

something you should always have in your freezer, and i mean ALWAYS, is home made chicken stock. it’s not hard to make, really. ever go to the grocery store with little motivation to actually make anything for dinner and settle for one of those rotisserie chickens they always have? yeah, me too. frequently. so after you tear off all the meat like a savage with your bare hands, you take all the bones and throw them in a pot with some veggies and herbs and water and three hours later you have liquid gold. if you want specifics on that, email me. for this post is not about making chicken stock. it’s about the magical soup i just made with that chicken stock. because i have a cold. a nasty, black plague bitch of a cold.


Cold Killer Chicken Curry Soup

ingredients-
4 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, sliced
3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces¹
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
a 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thin
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
3 bay leaves
2 tsp curry power²
salt and pepper
meat from 1 roasted chicken, about 2 cups
4 cups home made chicken stock

heat up your dutch oven (or whatever you use to make soup in, you want a large one, at least 4 quarts) and melt the butter over medium heat. toss in the onions and cook them til they’re transparent and slightly browning on the edges. add the garlic, ginger, bay leaves and curry powder. cook about a minute to open up the spices a little. dump in the parsnips and potatoes, stir to coat. add the stock and bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. adjust salt and pepper as needed.

¹feel free to mess around with the ingredients a little. this could easily be made with any root vegetable.
²a note on curry powder: i used a vindaloo style curry for this, but any kind would work. i pretty much exclusively use Penzey’s spices, so i definitely recommend getting your stash from them.


(originally posted october 2011)