Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 22, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● C3 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2025 A hearty broth turns leftover poultry into a nourishing, cold-fighting dish Chicken soup… for more than just the soul I PROBABLY shouldn’t put this in writing, but I did not get sick with a respiratory illness in 2024. I got close, though. One day in November, my head felt heavy and my throat scratchy. “I’m going to have some tea and take a nap,” I told my partner, Joe. “Could you get me some chicken soup?” What I really wanted was more spe- cific than that: tender, bite-size pieces of chicken, onions, carrots, potatoes and celery floating in a hot bowl of homemade chicken broth, golden and glowing, rich with chicken fat and so much garlic, fragrant with fresh lemon juice and finely chopped tender herbs. Joe knows me well enough to know that I didn’t want a can of Campbell’s; he brought home a jar of Rao’s Home- made Chicken Noodle Soup. That did the trick. But it also got me thinking of what I’d want to be eating in bed when I do succumb to the next common cold. The next day, with barely a tickle in my throat, I picked up a rotisserie chicken from a nearby shop. We ate half of it for lunch. As dusk ap- proached, I picked the remaining meat off the bones, gathered the carcass, skin and scraps, and started on this recipe for Leftover Roast Chicken Soup. Though you could use store-bought chicken broth or stock, this recipe is designed around a quick homemade stock derived from the leftover roast chicken’s bones and scraps. Here’s how it goes: In a big pot, com- bine the bones and scraps from a par- tially eaten roast or rotisserie chicken with a lot of water and bring it to a boil. Sometimes I add a spoonful of chicken stock concentrate, such as Penzeys Chicken Soup Base, to enhance the flavour, but it’s not necessary. While the quick chicken stock sim- mers, I chop the vegetables. Onions are the primary flavour in my ideal chicken soup, though garlic and carrots are similarly important. Celery, if I have it, is a really nice savoury counterpoint to the sweetness of the carrots. Although I love chick- en soups with rice, saltines, bread or noodles, potatoes are the carbohydrate co-star in this recipe. After 40 minutes at a lively simmer, the stock gets strained and returned to the same pot over high heat. The chopped vegetables go in, along with some salt and pepper to taste. I love how the sharpness of the onions and garlic mellows as they cook. The pota- toes, meanwhile, absorb those stronger flavours while their neat edges soften and tiny bits of potato slough off, gen- tly thickening the soup. The last step is to add the picked and pulled chicken meat. It’s already well- cooked, so it only needs to be heated through. After dinner, I ladled leftover soup into quart containers for freezing. “Do you know Justin Case?” I asked Joe. He cracked a smile. “This soup is for Justin Case. Just in case I catch a cold in the future and want some chicken soup!” This basic chicken soup is satisfying on its own, especially for young chil- dren, someone with a very sore throat or anyone with an aversion to strong flavours. If you want more oomph, make the optional gremolata. It’s just chopped fresh herbs, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and seasonings, but it makes this simple soup into something special. — The Washington Post G. DANIELA GALARZA Leftover Roast Chicken Soup REY LOPEZ, CAROLYN ROBB / THE WASHINGTON POST Soup is the best way to extract that last bit of value from leftover roast chicken. IF you have roast or rotisserie chicken for a meal and end up with leftovers, this chicken soup is for you. Start by making a quick, 40-minute chicken stock out of the leftover bones and scraps (cartilage, skin) and water. (You can also skip this part and just start with 8 cups of prepared home- made or not chicken broth or stock.) Bring that to a boil in a big pot before adding onions, carrots, garlic and potatoes. Taste the soup before seasoning it well with salt and pepper. Once the vegetables are fork-tender, add the leftover chicken meat, heat it through, and your soup is done. As-is, this soup is ideal for children with an aversion to strong flavours, or when you’re sick and need something mild, warming and easy to eat. If you want to punch it up, make the optional gremolata. It takes minutes to put together and livens up any basic soup. This recipe is designed for efficiency. You can prep all of the vegetables in advance, as is generally recommended. But if you are making the quick stock, get that started before chopping anything to save yourself some time. 4 servings (makes 5 litres or 10 cups) Active time: 25 minutes Total time: 1 hour (if making from scratch) Storage: Refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. Make ahead: The chicken stock can be made up to 3 days in advance. For the stock and soup: 500 g (16 oz) chicken bones and scraps left over from a roast or rotisserie chicken 2 L (8 cups) water, more as needed 10 ml (2 tsp) chicken stock concentrate (optional) 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled (if desired) and cut to 1/2-inch dice 2 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut to 1/2-inch dice 1 small yellow onion, cut to 1/2-inch dice 1 rib celery, cut to 1/2-inch dice (optional) 4 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated Pinch fine salt, plus more to taste Pinch freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste 300 to 400 g (10 to 16 oz) leftover roast or rotisserie chicken meat, pulled or cut into bite-size pieces For the gremolata (optional): 170 g (3/4 cup) chopped fresh dill, parsley, chives, tarragon, marjoram or a mix 2 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated 30 ml (2 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil 15 ml (1 tbsp) finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon) 45 to 60 ml (3 to 4 tbsp) fresh lemon juice (from the same lemon) Pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional) Fine salt Freshly ground black pepper MAKE the stock: In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, combine the chicken bones and scraps, water and chicken stock concen- trate, if using. Cover, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Uncover, give it a good stir, skim off and discard any surface scum, then reduce the heat to maintain a lively simmer. Re-cover and cook until fragrant and a few small pools of fat float to the surface, about 40 minutes. (If the steam makes your lid dance, leave it very slightly ajar.) Make the gremolata, if desired: While the stock is simmering, in a small bowl, stir together the herbs, garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, crushed red pepper flakes, if using, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Taste, and season with additional salt and pepper, if desired. You should have about 250 ml (1 cup) of the gremolata. Finish the soup: When the stock is done, remove the pot from the heat. Use a slotted spoon to remove any large bones, then strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. (Discard the bones and scraps.) If needed, add enough water to get to 1.2 l (8 cups) of stock. Rinse out the pot and return it to the stovetop before pouring the stock back into the pot. Cover the pot, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, if using, and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to maintain a lively simmer, re-cover and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the chicken, return the soup to a boil and cook until warmed through, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Divide the soup among individual bowls, top each serving with some of the gremo- lata, if desired, and serve. Substitutions: Onion – leeks, shallots or more garlic. Carrots – celery or fennel. Potatoes – sweet potatoes, winter squash or cooked beans. Instead of making the chicken stock – use 8 cups of store-bought or homemade chicken broth. In place of gremolata – try store-bought pesto. Japanese, Italian influences marry deliciously in this Wedding Soup SAY SAYONARA TO BORING W HEN Sonoko Sakai’s mother snuck a little miso into her lasagna, she wasn’t thinking of the kind of Japanese fusion that became an American dining craze in the 1980s. Rather, she was doing what Japanese cooks had been doing for centuries, adapting to outside influences. Many dishes now thought of as quintes- sentially Japanese are fusions once considered foreign to the country. Gyoza dumplings arrived from China only about a hundred years ago. Tonkatsu, a fried pork cutlet, came from French chefs cooking in the imperial court after Japan opened to the West during the Meiji period of the late 1800s. And curry arrived when the English brought spice mixes from their Indian colonies. Each dish was adapted to be more, well, Japanese, said Sakai, a Japa- nese-American cooking instructor who explores this combination of influenc- es in her new book, Wafu Cooking. Wafu literally means “Japanese in style.” That could mean blending Western and Japanese flavours or even adjusting a dish’s presentation or sensibility to Japanese tastes. Take tonkatsu as an example. Impe- rial chefs “wafued” the pork cutlets by chopping them into bite-size pieces so the meat could be picked up with chopsticks. The dish also comes with shredded cabbage to balance its rich- ness, and with tonkatsu sauce, itself an international mashup that includes soy sauce, Worcestershire and tomato. Sakai routinely wafues Western dish- es — she is pushing the use of wafu as a verb — such as a white-bean chili in her book made extra savoury from soy sauce. She adds miso to her apple pie and, like her mother, to her Bolognese sauce. “I find that it enhances the flavour,” Sakai said. “It doesn’t make it alien or foreign. You just wonder why it tastes better.” Slipping in an ingredient on the sly is also a Japanese tradition, one called kakushiaji. It means “secret flavour” but Japanese cooks think of them more like secret agents, Sakai said. “I call them little ninjas.” She sneaks sake, soy sauce and ginger into her Italian Wedding Soup, a dish she learned from relatives on her grandmother’s side, who are from the Italian part of Switzerland. The pork meatballs are similar to the filling she makes for her gyoza, using potato starch as a binding agent instead of the egg in Italian meatballs. “I didn’t have to reinvent this reci- pe,” Sakai said. “I’m just doing what I do. I have these seasonings. Sometimes I think it needs a little bit of this, a splash of that. And if you have these Japanese ingredients, give it a try.” — The Associated Press ALBERT STUMM Sonoko Sakai’s Japanese Italian Wedding Soup KNOPF A recipe for Japanese Italian wedding soup, from the cookbook Wafu Cooking: Everyday Recipes with Japanese Style by Sonoko Sakai. KNOPF Sonoko Sakai For the meatballs: 500 g (1 lb) ground pork 1 yellow onion, grated 1 garlic clove, minced 1 egg 15 ml (1 tbsp) sake or white wine 15 ml (1 tbsp) soy sauce 30 ml (2 tbsp) potato starch or corn- starch, diluted in 2 tablespoons water 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) sea salt 1 ml (1/4 tsp) freshly ground pepper 125 ml (1/4 cup) minced fresh parsley 7.5 ml (1 1/2 tsp) oregano 250 ml (1/2 cup) Parmesan, grated For the soup: 30 ml (2 tbsp) extra- virgin olive oil 1/2 yellow onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 large carrot, peeled and diced 2 L (8 cups) chicken broth 60 ml (1/4 cup) sake 15 ml (1 tbsp) soy sauce 1/2 head escarole, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup acini de pepe or other small pasta (such as orzo) 5 ml (1 tsp) lemon zest Grated Parmesan cheese, to serve Crusty bread, to serve (optional) Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). To make the meatballs, combine the pork, grated onion, garlic, egg, sake, soy sauce, diluted starch, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano and Parmesan in a medium bowl. Mix with your hands until just combined. Form meat- balls about 15 ml (1 tbsp) in size, and set on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Yields about 40 meatballs. Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes, until browned and nearly cooked. To make the soup, set a large pot over medium, add the oil and sauté the onions and garlic until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes. Then add the broth, sake and soy sauce to the pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and add the meatballs, one at a time. Simmer until the meatballs are cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the escarole, cover with the lid, and simmer for another 10 minutes. In the meantime, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add a pinch of salt and the pasta. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until al dente. Rinse with cold water, drain and set aside. Just before serving the soup, add the cooked pasta to the pot. Season with salt, pepper and lemon zest. Serve with grated Parmesan and crusty bread, if desired. — from Wafu Cooking, sonokosakai.com ARTS ● LIFE I FOOD ;