Look what happened!

So, after you make your fabulous chicken stock, you might want to do this: make chicken noodle soup. Boring, you might think. But no. This is important. It's a very simple recipe, once you have homemade stock. (Don't make this if you're going to regress and settle for canned.) It's very economical too. Very healthful as well, if you get good chicken. It's more filling than you'd expect. It's one of those foods that tastes better than it seems possible for it to taste. It's food that reminds us that, if we go through all the steps, life is easy and good.

I used the recipe from Barefoot Contessa Family Style. Her soup recipes are always right.

Chicken Noodle Soup

(serves 4 to 6)

• 1 whole (2 halves) chicken breast, with skin and bones
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 quarts homemade chicken stock
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2 cups wide egg noodles, uncooked
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place the chicken breast on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred or dice the meat.
3. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a medium-large pot and add the celery, carrots, and noodles. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked. Add the cooked chicken and the parsley and heat through.
4. Add salt and pepper until it's tasty, and serve.

Stock Matters.

This little guy can make a big difference in your life.


I cooked at home for years before I made my own stock. It just didn't seem like something worth my time. I could buy chicken broth by the carton...what's the difference? I imagined aproned grandmothers puttering between their steaming stoves and pots of petunias all day--not my scene. But then I finally broke down and made a chicken stock, just to experience it, just to try it out. And I can honestly say it improved my food so much that I'm ashamed of myself when I resort to using canned broth for lack of homemade stock in the freezer. Shame on us all for not making more stock!

It's not just that homemade stock's flavor beats canned; you can manipulate the flavor of your own homemade stock the way you can't possibly manipulate a pre-made product. For instance, if you're going to be using the stock in a Vietnamese dish, you might want to add a little cilantro, if you catch my drift. If you love garlic, you might want to toss in a few cloves (or heads). And you can control the quality of your food better. You'll know, because you paid for it, the quality of the chicken you use. If you're down with Tyson, that's your business; I go for something a little more organic. I don't put "scraps" in my stock, as some recipes or cooks will suggest. Basically, I don't put anything in it that I wouldn't eat...and I don't eat onion skins. Another major difference between homemade and canned is the gelatin factor. "Broth" doesn't have the natural gelatin that a stock, made from water-simmered bones, has. You know you have no gelatin in your broth when you refrigerate it and it doesn't "set" into some sort of savory jello-like consistency. And gelatin is what adds the natural body (read: yumminess) to a stock, which in turn adds natural body to your soup, stew, sauce, or whatever you're using it in.

Stock recipes abound; just about every cookbook I've ever seen has a recipe in it for light chicken stock. (FYI, I'm talking light chicken stock here; we're not roasting the bones for a dark chicken stock today. Stay tuned for that one.) I'm including my own procedure, but it's just a starting point. Fiddle around until you find your ideal combination.

Light Chicken Stock

1 chicken (3 to 4 pounds), giblets removed, rinsed

2 carrots, scraped and halved

2 stalks celery, cut crosswise into thirds (including leaves)

1 onion, peeled and halved

10 sprigs parsley

3 sprigs thyme

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Put all of the ingredients in a medium to large stockpot and cover the chicken with cold water (about 3 quarts of water should do it). Over medium heat, bring the water to a low simmer; this will take about 40 minutes. During the first 20 minutes or so of simmering, skim off the foam that rises to the top. Simmer uncovered very slowly (i.e., barely-bubbling) for about 3 to 4 hours, or until the liquid is the flavor you like. Discard the big solids, like the chicken and bones, onions, etc. Line a sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth (you can buy this at Target in the gadget aisle) and pour the stock through it into a large bowl or another pot. Discard everything you catch in the cheesecloth. Refrigerate the stock for 5 to 6 hours (or overnight), to give the fat a chance to rise and solidify on the top. Once the fat is solidified, you can take the stock out of the fridge and scoop the fat off with a spoon, discarding it. Then, pack the stock into smaller, recipe-sized containers (usually 2 or 3 cups) and freeze up to 6 months, or refrigerate up to 4 days.

I usually get 2 1/2 quarts of stock from this recipe.

Note: you'll want to let the stock come to room temperature before you measure it for use in recipes. It really does set up.

Chicken Provencal, Ya'll.

This is one of the best things I've ever cooked or eaten...I took Daniel Boulud's recipe and adapted it slightly. It's one of those dishes that gives you more leftovers than you think it will, that tastes better than you think it will, that impresses your friends more than you think it will, and teaches you a lot about cooking in the process. In the photo you can see big chunks of potatoes, chicken pieces still on the bone (just barely), nicoise olives, red bell pepper...vive la provencal.

Note: using canned tomatoes saves you some time and another dirty pot. When tomatoes aren't the feature of a dish, I see no problem using canned, even in summer.







Chicken Provencal
(adapted from Daniel Boulud's Cooking in New York City)

one 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 spring onions, white part with 1/2-inch of green tops
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch thick strips
8 small Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut lengthwise in quarters
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups unsalted chicken broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cut into 2-inch chunks (I use canned whole tomatoes)
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
3 ounces haricots verts (or green beans), tipped and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/3 cup black olives, pitted (nicoise or kalamata are good for this dish)

1. Warm 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven or casserole over medium-high heat. Season the chicken all over with salt & pepper and dust with the flour. When the oil is hot, slip the chicken pieces in and sear on all sides until well-browned about 10 minutes (I do this in two batches to avoid crowding and steaming the chicken). With all the browned chicken in the pot, add the onions, red pepper, and potatoes and stir until all the vegetables are coated with oil. Add the wine & stir the browned bits on the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Let the wine cook down until reduced by about half, and then add the stock, tomato paste, tomatoes, garlic, bay leaf and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
2. While the chicken cooks: Bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare a medium-sized bowl with ice-water (this is to plunge the green beans in to preserve color and texture). When the pot of water comes to a boil, drop in the green beans and boil for 3 minutes (or 4 minutes if beans are large). Immediately drain and drop the beans in the ice water; they can stay there until you need them.
3. Also while the chicken cooks: Warm the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and zucchini and cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to paper towel-lined plates to drain. (This saute intensifies the sweetness of the vegetables and helps them keep their shape longer in the dish.)
4. After the chicken has simmered for 30 minutes, add the green beans, eggplant and zucchini to the pot and cook together for 10 minutes. Stir in the olives and season with salt and pepper (taste the broth for seasoning). Discard the bay leaf and thyme spring as you find them. Serve in pasta or soup plates, with bread for dipping.

Serves 5 or 6 people who like good food.

♠