Chicken Stock

Everyone always says one should make her own chicken broth. It's not always in the cards to have several hours to kill before you want to whip up some soup for dinner. This is why Sundays are great days for soup. I made this fantastic broth to go with a Thai Chicken Soup (recipe coming) that really depended on a flavorful broth. Yum! There was luckily a bit leftover so I poured the extra broth into a ziploc bag and popped it in the freezer to use on my next soup.

Makes about 3 quarts

Ingredients:

3 lb chicken wings

any extra chicken bones you've been storing in your freezer (or just get a few more wings or other chicken parts)

4 quarts water

1 onion, quartered

8 garlic cloves, skin on

1 celery rib, quartered

1 carrot, quartered

6 parsley sprigs

1 large thyme sprig

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a large stock put and bring to a boil, skimming any froth. Reduce to a bare simmer and cook, uncovered, for 3.5 hours, occasionally skimming any foam and fat. Pour the stock through a sieve lined with damp paper towels and discard solids. Skim any fat. 

Corn Broth and Frozen Corn

At the end of the summer, I suggest everyone goes out and buys 2 dozen ears of corn to freeze. Late August/September corn is so delicious, and having some on hand in the winter is such a treat. I like to saute it with chorizo, make corn and black bean salad, or make lobster corn fritters. Just throw the husked corn into boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then cut the kernels off the cobs. Put them into several ziploc sandwich bags and throw them in the freezer. So easy.

I also like to take all of the leftover cobs and put them back in the pot of water with a few onions and sprigs of basil and let it cook for an hour or so until you get this amazing corn broth. (You can throw in carrots or scallions or other herbs too.) I put that in the freezer, then use it for corn soups or chowders. It really adds an extra, deep, sweet corn flavor.