Thinking of soup...

[Sussex19]

Thanks! I missed the bit about straining.
Can you point me towards any good soup recipes?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Thanks! I missed the bit about straining.
Can you point me towards any good soup recipes?

I wish I could. I have been making it so long I don't use recipes, just the same basic methods. There are some good websites for recipes but my favorite one doesn't have any soup recipes. I prefer cookbooks to websites especially if you are just starting out because they often give more detail and have sections on methods that are very helpful.

 

[NatJ]

Can you point me towards any good soup recipes?

Here's one that works for me, but it doesn't have very precise measurements.

Chop equal amounts of:
onion
celery
carrot
cooked chicken

Add some chopped fresh garlic, but not as much garlic as each of those other ingredietns.

You can add rice, either cooked rice (same amount as each other ingredient) or raw rice (about 1/4 as much as each other ingredient.

Put these all in a pan with water or broth, and cook until they are soft.

While it's cooking, taste/smell it and add what seasonings seem good:
maybe some pepper,
usually some salt or chicken bouillon

Once everything is soft, decide whether you need more liquid (add more water or broth).
If you did not use rice, you can add noodles and cook them in it.

You can eat it that way, as chicken soup.

Or it can become Cream of Chicken Soup (add cream or sour cream.)
Or it can become Curried Chicken Soup (add curry powder, either while it cooks or at the end.)
Or you can open a jar of stir fry sauce, and stir that in. Every flavor I've tried so far was good. (These sauces tend to be salty, so don't oversalt the soup if you intend to do this.)
I don't think I've tried adding chili powder or salsa yet, but they would probably be good too.
A bit of wine can make a nice addition to the plain soup or the cream version, too. I haven't tried adding wine to the other flavors.

Or, if you mis-figured and the pot of "soup" is not runny enough, just call it "chicken casserole" instead. All the same flavors work just fine.

I often serve the soup plain the first day, then over the next few days I reheat bowls of soup in the microwave and stir in different flavors each time. It's a handy way to clean out the almost-empty jars of sauces that collect in the fridge, and it keeps everyone from getting tired of the "same" soup.

 

[Percheron chick]

Anytime I buy a rotisserie chicken I throw the carcass in the freezer to make stock at a later time. There is plenty of meat left on the bones to make a hearty soup, seasoning and the ever important fat and skin for lots of flavor. Just cover with water and slimmer. After the meat falls off the bones let it cool. I pick out the bones, skin and bits by hand. Chicken stock at this point can be made into anything you want. Onion, celery and carrots is a classic starting point. Next what ever you want or need to clean out of the pantry/freezer. Rice, noodles, black or white beans, fresh herbs, peas... Make some jambalaya. What ever you want. I don't think it comes out the same 2x. My must for soup making is an immersion blender. I will blend the stock with the cooked onion, carrots and celery to a smooth consistency. Perfect starting point for creamed soups like butternut or chowders. If you added too much water to the stock and it is thin, take a few cups, blend it then dump it back in the pot. Uncooked rice and noodles will also soak up excess water.
Not an organ meat eater but if you insist, I would cook them separately, chop them up and put on top before serving.
I will add to NatJ's suggestion of chicken curry soup. Add a can of coconut milk. Yum!