Recipes & Food Styling

“Waste not!” Save those veggie ends for soup that’s bursting with flavors!

This windy, rainy day was perfect for making the last Chicken & Rice Soup for a while! (Let’s hope!) Getting better about stashing parts of veggies that don’t make it into salads. I freeze the ends of carrots, peppers, onions and more and make my stock with them for amazing flavors! “Waste not!”

I roast a chicken every Sunday, and make broth with the bones and lots of pepper, garlc, dried basil and more! It’s nourishing for the body, and the soul!   

Roasted Chicken and Rice Soup

1 whole roasted chicken

3-4 lemons

3-4 large red onions

6 large carrot sticks

3 large red bell peppers

1 bunch cilantro

1 bunch mint

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorns

1 cup pinot grigio

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 cups wild rice

3 tablespoons butter, for rice 

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Rinse a whole chicken in cold water, and place in a roaster. Slice 2 lemons and 2 onions and stuff them inside chicken and under skin. 

Cut half of the remaining vegetables and lemons into large pieces, and arrange around chicken. Cut the other half of the vegetables into bite-size pieces and reserve for the soup. 

Drizzle oil over chicken and vegetables. Sprinkle the paprika and half of the salt and pepper on top of the chicken and rub it into the chicken. Pour the wine around the chicken, over the vegetables.  

Roast in oven for 15 minutes per pound; reduce heat to 350 degrees after the first 15 minutes.

Halfway through, baste the chicken. Turn the chicken over and baste it on the other side. Remove as much of the liquid as possible and store in a heat-proof (glass) container. This will be your schmaltz for making  your soup.

The chicken is done when the temperature reaches 165 degrees fahrenheit. Remove it from the oven and let it sit and cool.

When cool, pull the meat off the bone. Separate 1/3 of the meat to reserve for the soup. Set aside the 2/3 of the meat and the roasted vegetables for a meal.

Fill a Dutch oven or pot 2/3 full of water. Bring to a boil. Place the chicken bones and  ends of vegetables saved from previous meals into the boiling water. Add the roasted lemons and onions; remaining salt, pepper, garlic and dried basil. Boil this for one hour. Drain the liquid into a separate pot. Pull good meat from the chicken bones, and then discard the bones and the vegetables and lemons.

Skim the layer of fat off of the top of the schmaltz, and add the schmaltz to the liquid in the pot. Bring to a boil. Then add the remaining bite-size pieces of the chicken, remaining vegetables, cilantro, mint, garlic, and cooked wild rice (cook according to directions) . Boil this for 15-20 minutes, and then reduce heat and simmer for one hour.