Chicken Vegetable Barley Soup
Total time: 120 minutes
You can use a whole fryer or any chicken parts to make stock. If you use a whole chicken you should have stock left to freeze for other uses. 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.
Ingredients:
- The stock:
- 1 chicken breast, bone in or not
- 2 chicken thigh with legs, bone in
- the tops from a bunch of celery or
2 ribs celery
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- bouquet garni
- 8 cups water
- salt or chicken base/stock cubes, or use some chicken stock instead of water
- The soup:
- 4 carrots
- 4 ribs celery
- 1 onion
- 1 can sweet corn, 15oz (450gr)
- 1 can whole tomatoes, 15oz (450gr)
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup pearl barley
- 3 - 4 cups cooked chicken more or less - from making stock
- 6 - 8 cups (48 - 64oz, 1440 - 1920ml) of the chicken stock
Instructions:
- The stock:
- Cut the vegetables into large chunks. If you are using celery tops, use them all, including the leaves.
- Put chicken, vegetables, herbs and water in soup pot or Dutch oven.
- Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour if using breasts, 2 or 3 hours if using a whole chicken.
- When done, strain stock, discarding vegetables and reserving chicken.
- If time allows, chill stock and remove fat.
- Refrigerate chicken if not making soup immediately.
- The soup:
- Bring stock to a boil over medium 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). Serve.