Soups were a huge part of my culinary upbringing. Almost every meal would start with a bowl of soup, usually broth based. If I close my eyes, I can literally smell the chicken soup cooking on our stove as we returned from sledding all morning with my father during winter Sundays or on sunny spring weekends with all the windows open as the warm wind blew the white lace curtains and carried the delicious smell throughout the house. Surprisingly, making chicken soup is fairly easy, the 'big job" is to clean your veggies and your chicken of course. Make sure you make enough for leftover broth to use in a risotto dish or when all the veggies are gone, eat it with freshly cooked tortellini. 

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken - if you are not comfortable "dissecting", you can always use a couple of chicken breasts and a pair of thighs preferably with skin on
• 5-6 large carrots peeled, cut in half
• 5-6 white carrots (roots of parsley) peeled, cut in half
• 1 celery root, peeled
• 4-5 large white potatoes peeled
• 1 small yellow onion or shallot, washed but skin on
• handful of parsley leaves
• 2-3 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper

If you are using a whole chicken, it is best to cut it up into several pieces, thighs, breast meat and the rest. I leave the skin on because it will release natural fat, giving your soup a lovely golden color. Place meat pieces into a large pot. Clean all your vegetables and place them on top of meat including onion. Fill pot with water to the top. Season it with salt and pepper. (check for saltiness throughout cooking, you might have to add a little more) Bring it to a boil, turn heat down to low and cook for about an hour. While cooking, skim off any foam that forms on top of soup with a small strainer. Check your potatoes and if you feel they are cooked all the way through, remove them from soup and place them into a glass serving dish. When your carrots and chicken are tender, turn the heat off. Remove all vegetables and place them in dish with potatoes. You can toss the onion out, it served its purpose of giving your soup some extra color and taste. When all ingredients are removed from pot, strain entire soup to get a nice, clean, golden liquid. Cut up your veggies and meat, place them into a soup bowl with your choice of pasta (cook your noodles in water not in soup) and ladle your broth on top. I always store my ingredients separate, never leave it in the broth. Hope you enjoy this home cooked taste, you might never buy another can of chicken soup again!