Chicken and Barley Soup; Homemade Chicken Stock
Total time: 60 minutes
Chicken and Barley Soup
I love barley, as a side dish, as a substitute for rice in risotto, and in soups. The barley that I get is (I think) partially pre-cooked so it cooks in about 20 minutes. Regular pearl barley takes about 45 minutes. I'm sorry that I can't be specific about the amount to use. I used 3/4 cup of mine and it was perfect and made a thick soup. If you want a thinner soup use 1/2 cup. If the soup ends up to thick for your taste, add more stock. It's soup... It's easy to fix!
Ingredients:
- 3 - 4 cups cooked chicken, more or less, 450gr, 15.8oz
- 4 - 5 carrots, 360gr, 12.7oz
- 3 - 4 ribs celery, 200gr, 7oz
- 1 onion, 175gr, 6.18oz
- 1 can sweet corn, 15oz, drained, 210gr, 7.4oz
- 1 can whole tomatoes, 425gr, 15oz
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup pearl barley, 100gr, 3.5oz
- 1 1/2 - 2 quarts chicken stock 1440gr, 50.8oz
Instructions:
- Bring stock to a boil over medium high heat.
- Cut carrots in half, the long way then thinly slice. 1/8" (3 cm). Add to stock.
- Thinly slice celery, add to stock.
- Chop onion, add to stock.
- Open and drain sweet corn and add to stock.
- Add barley to stock.
- Cover and simmer - may need to reduce heat a bit. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
- Open tomatoes and drain. Chop tomatoes and add to soup.
- Add chicken to soup.
- Cover and simmer 15 minutes longer.
- Now: too thick? Add more stock. Too thin? Add 1/3 cup vermicelli (cooks fast and thickens nicely) Taste. Everything done?
- Serve.
Chicken Stock Time: 90 minutes
You can use a whole fryer or any chicken parts to make stock. Leftover chicken bones, a package of wings, etc. I used the meat I wanted for the soup: 2 chicken thighs with legs and bones and one breast. If you use a whole chicken you should have stock left to freeze for other uses.
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken thighs and legs with bone in
- 1 chicken breast - bone in or not
- the tops from a bunch of celery if you have it
- 2 - 3 ribs celery
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- bouquet garni
- enough water to just cover everything
- 1 tbs chicken base or 1 chicken stock cube or salt to taste
Instructions:
- Cut the vegetables into large chunks. If you are using the tops to a bunch of celery use them all - including the leaves.
- Put chicken, vegetables and herbs into a soup pot or Dutch oven.
- Add water to cover. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour - or 2 or three; the longer the better.
- If you're using an uncooked whole chicken cook at least 2 hours.
- Can be made anytime during the day, cooked for 1 - 4 hours unattended and finished before dinner. Strain stock and return stock to pan. Pick the chicken off the carcass, cut or tear into bite-size pieces and set aside. Discard bones and vegetables.
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Nutrition Information |
General Technical Details and Disclaimer:
Measurements are actual measurements used for calculation. If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.
I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it. I use 'grams' as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.
My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/
