Chicken Soup for the Student -

Image courtesy of Joe Frederick

By Joe Frederick

If you’re like me and live with a bunch of people to keep rent down, then you will probably cook for each other at some point. I live with six other students, and we made a schedule where one of us cooks for everyone once a week, and cooking for that many people can be daunting, but it does not have to be. Chicken soup is an easy and quick dish you can make for a bunch of people. I will go over how to make some basic chicken soup for you and your roommates and show you how to add that extra step to making dinner restaurant quality. The first recipe we will go over is a simple one that doesn’t take long.

Ingredients

4 Chicken thighs, preferably bone in and skin on
2 Carrots
2 Celery Stalks
½ Onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 Box of chicken broth
1 Loaf of bread
½ Box of pasta

Making the soup

Cut the carrots, celery, and onion into medium size pieces and put them into a pot and pour in your chicken broth. Add your garlic to the pot.
Bring the pot to a simmer for 45 minutes.
Put your chicken thighs in a bowl. Drizzle them with olive oil, season with salt, pepper, and your choice of spices.
Lay the chicken in a tray and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until white in the center.
When you are almost done with the broth and chicken thighs, remove the garlic from the broth. Then, dissolve salt into a pot of water and bring it up to a boil. Add some olive oil and add a pasta of your choice. Cook till al dente, then add to the simmering broth.
When the chicken is done, take them out of the oven, and you should be able to pull it apart with two forks. Add the shredded chicken to the broth.
Serve with your bread.

If you want to level up your dish and put on a show for your roommates, this is how to do it. We will make our own broth and bread, which will also take a lot longer.

Ingredients

Soup

5 Chicken thighs, preferably bone in and skin on
2 Carrots
2 Celery Stalks
½ Onion
1 Garlic bulb
½ Box of pasta
1 Bay leaf
Turmeric

Bread

1 ¾ Cups of warm water
1 ½ Tablespoons and ¼ teaspoon of sugar
3 Cups bread flour
½ Packet of yeast
½ Tablespoon of salt
1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil

Making the Bread

Pour 1 ¾ cups of warm water into a large bowl. Be sure that it is not too hot or cold because it could kill the yeast, and you wouldn’t be able to get the bread to rise. Add ½ packet of yeast into the water with ¼ teaspoon of sugar and stir until dissolved. Then until you start seeing bubbles in the water.
Once you see the bubbling add a mixture of 1 ½ cups of flour, 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar, and ½ tablespoon of salt. Mix with a wooden spoon until it all combines.
After that, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and mix well. Then add in your remaining 1 ½ cups of flour, ½ cup at a time.
After mixing in the last of the flour, knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. You should be able to poke the dough, and it will start rising back up.
Cover the dough and put it in a warm place to rise for 1 ½ hours.
Uncover the dough, punch it down, and cover it back up to let it rise for another 30 minutes.
Put it on a pan in a log shape and bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes.

Making the soup

Cut the carrots, celery, and onion into medium size pieces and put them into a pot. Add in a bay leaf, cut your bulb of garlic in half lengthwise, and add it to the pot. Put one chicken thigh in the pot and pour in cold water until it covers everything. I recommend adding turmeric as it will help with digestion.
Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer for 45 minutes.
Put your other 4 chicken thighs in a bowl. Drizzle them with olive oil, season with salt, pepper, and your choice of spices.
Lay the chicken in a tray and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until white in the center.
When you are almost done with the broth and chicken thighs remove the garlic and bay leaf from the broth. Then, dissolve salt into a pot of water and bring it up to a boil. Add some olive oil and add a pasta of your choice. Cook till al dente, then add to the simmering broth.
When the chicken is done, take the 4 out of the oven and the 1 in the broth and you should be able to pull it apart with two forks. Add the shredded chicken to the broth.
Serve with your bread.

Your roommates are sure to love this dish, and after you’re done, the bones from the thighs you cooked can become the base for another homemade chicken stock; just repeat the first two steps and drain your new chicken stock into a separate container.