Potato and Barley Stew in Turkey Broth

Don't throw away that turkey carcass from Thanksgiving!  Instead, use it to make a rich and satisfying broth.  I had a lot of potatoes and barley, so I decided to use my home-made turkey stock to make a thick stew.  This recipe does take a lot of time but minimal effort is required (other than if you were the one who cooked the Thanksgiving turkey).

To make the stock, I simply put the carcass in a pot large enough to hold it, covered it with water, added two bay leaves, quartered an unpeeled onion and tossed that in too.  I covered the pot and brought the whole mix to a simmer over very low heat for hours on end.  I was at home all day, so the total time simmering probably ended up being around four or five hours.  If you don't want to wait that long, keep in mind that the longer you can keep the bird in the water, the more flavorful your stock will be (although seriously, I think my five hours was a bit overkill).  I'd say no less than two hours simmering.

Remove all solid detritus from the broth.  This is easier said than done- even after spending five or ten minutes with a slotted spoon, a couple of small bones escaped my efforts.  If you don't mind making a larger mess, strain the broth through a fine sieve into another bowl or pot.  This should nearly eliminate all unwanted debris from your broth. 

From here, you have some options.  You could freeze the broth for future use in soups or gravy, or you could go right ahead and use it immediately.  This is what I did.  I decided not to salvage the bits of meat from the carcass, as I sampled some of it and found the texture wanting.  In any case, I had all the turkey flavor I could want in my broth.  I chopped about six potatoes into bite-sized pieces and added them to the broth, followed by roughly a cup and a half of pearl barley and a cup of frozen corn. 

For seasoning, I used black pepper, a bit of cayenne pepper, and cumin.  I stirred everything together and allowed it to continue simmering for about an hour and a half.  Both the potatoes and the barley thicken the soup tremendously, and they make for a filling meal.  The corn adds notes of sweetness to the palate.  I'll admit, I was dubious about how exactly this recipe would turn out, fearing a bland and mushy end result.   I was pleasantly surprised at the first mouthful.  The simpleness of the recipe brings out how lovely the texture and delicate flavor of barley really is.  The potatoes were a nice complement, adding substance and a contrasting mouth-feel.  My turkey broth lent richness and a holiday flavor over it all; cumin and cayenne added a touch of excitement.  Easy and flavorful, this one was a winner.

Hearty Chicken Soup

It's a chilly October morning, and Andrew, my significant other, is suffering from one of the many autumn viruses going around.  As it happens, I know the perfect cure- chicken soup (and decongestant).  I was also looking for an excuse to make a soup that isn't usually on my menu.  I looked at a few recipes for ideas, including in my Cook's Illustrated: The New Best Recipe cookbook.  I really do love my Cook's Illustrated cookbook, but sometimes they get a little too scientific for me.  I also didn't feel up to the task of making my own chicken stock- as much as I enjoy cooking (and eating the results), I didn't want to be in the kitchen all day.  I finally went with one of the Pioneer Woman's recipes as a base, although I did change it up a bit.

I chose chicken thighs over a whole chicken for several reasons.  Working with a whole chicken is unwieldy, whereas smaller bits are easier to deal with.  Dark meat (to me, anyway) is more tender, more flavorful, and far more juicy.  I knew I was going to get a very rich broth from all of those thighs.  If you choose to follow my lead, you do want the skin-on and bone-in thighs, as both skin (high in fat) and bone (delicious marrow flavor) contribute a lot to the end product.  Another bonus: chicken thighs are much cheaper to buy than a whole chicken.  I must give credit to Andrew for pointing all of these things out even through a congested haze, because I was originally going to just buy what all of the other recipes had suggested.  I used roughly three or four pounds of chicken thighs and saved two for Andrew to make his famous chicken sandwiches.

I'm sure you would like to know what the rest of the ingredients are:

-10 ounces Swanson's unsalted chicken broth
-1 large turnip, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
-4 whole carrots, sliced
-4 celery ribs, chopped
-2 small onions or 1 large onion, diced
-1 cup uncooked barley
-1 tbsp cumin
-dash of oregano
-bundle of fresh herbs (in this case thyme, sage, and basil) tied together with cooking twine
-4 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
-1 bay leaf
-enough water to cover all ingredients if broth does not prove to be enough liquid to do so

One ingredient that I would have liked to add is ground black pepper, and there is a quite simple explanation for why there is not any present: I forgot to pick up more whilst out shopping.  It is always a terrible feeling as one drives away from the store and remembers that they forgot something rather crucial.  However, this soup proves that one does not need black pepper to create an amazingly comforting and delicious soup.  I would also like to point out that there is NO added salt- none whatsoever, and it was not missed.

I briefly toyed with the idea of roasting the vegetables to bring out more flavor, but was feeling so lazy as to not even saute them in the stockpot first.  I simply put everything except the barley into the pot, covered it all with a combination of chicken broth and water, and gave it a stir.  After the soup came to a boil, I turned the heat down to a simmer, and let the simmering liquid do its magic for two hours.  At this point, I removed the chicken thighs with a slotted spoon, as well as the bundle of fresh herbs, which was disintegrating.  If the chicken is not yet tender enough where the skin is falling off of the meat and the meat is falling off of the bone, it needs more time.  I set the chicken aside to cool down to the point where I could remove the meat from the bone by hand, and added my cup of barley to the still simmering vegetables and broth.  It takes 45 minutes for the barley to be ready, and that is plenty of time for the chicken to cool down and for me to separate the meat from the skin and bones.  I shredded the chicken meat into nice bite-sized chunks and put it back into the soup.  Once the barley was ready (it expands to several times its original size, and ought to be only slightly chewy), the soup was done.  Despite my avoidance of doing anything extra fancy with the ingredients, it turned out to be one of the tastiest soups that I have ever made.