Debbie Quinn has a lifelong love of food and cooking, nurtured in her parents’ restaurants and in her own family’s kitchen. Every fortnight she shares her passion and expertise with our readers, bringing her best recipes, tips and tricks to the table.
‘Stock’ up for winter — with lentil and vegetable soup
This recipe is guest-authored by Deb’s daughter Natalia Quinn and her partner Declan Adams as a Mother’s Day gesture for Deb to give her a break while she sets up her brand-new kitchen. Stay tuned.
You can put whatever you like in this soup as long as it starts with a good quality stock. In this cost-of-living crisis, buying a whole chicken is a cost-effective and nutritious way to cook at home. You can use the stock to make soup or use it in other dishes throughout your week, such as pasta sauces and curries. We always start our week with a fresh pot of stock, and we like to use the leftover chicken for mid-week lunches and dinners.
It all starts with the stock.
Ingredients:
Three litres of cold water
One whole chicken
Quarter of a bunch of celery, roughly chopped
One carrot, roughly chopped
Two onions, cut in half, skin on
4-5 dried bay leaves (or 1-2 fresh)
Method:
- Break down the chicken by removing the breasts, marylands and wings. You can get your butcher to do this, or there are plenty of tutorials online. Please give it a go; it’s easier than you think!
- Place the chicken, including the carcase, into a large pot of cold water. Add celery, onion (skin and all), carrot, bay leaves and any other offcuts of vegetables you are using into the pot. Bring to the boil.
- Remove the chicken breasts after 20 minutes and set aside in the fridge.
- Remove the marylands after 60 minutes and set aside in the fridge.
- Simmer everything remaining in the pot on low for a minimum of one hour. The longer you simmer it, the better; we usually aim for 4-6 hours.
- Once ready, remove and discard all solids by straining your stock through a colander into a new pot
- Now, you have the perfect base for any soup! You can refrigerate the stock for up to four days, freeze it or use it immediately to make a delicious lentil, vegetable and (optional) chicken soup.
Handy hints: You can make vegetable stock the same way; remove the chicken and replace it with mushrooms. You don’t have to add the chicken breasts and marylands to the stock; you can refrigerate them raw and use them for other meals. You can also purchase chicken frames from the butcher for just a dollar or two. This can be a cost-effective way to make beautiful chicken stock.
Lentil and vegetable soup
One onion
Three cloves of garlic
Two sticks of celery
One carrot
1 cup dry Puy lentils (French lentils)
1.5 litres stock
Handful of each vegetable of your choice diced — we used cauliflower, broccoli, capsicum and Dutch carrots.
Method:
- Finely dice onion, carrot, celery and garlic, and fry in olive oil on high heat until golden. You want some colour on your vegetables to bring out the sugars and enhance the flavour. Season well.
- Add lentils and stock and bring to the boil.
- Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until lentils are tender.
- Add any diced vegetable of your choice. Simmer until the added vegetables are cooked (5-10 minutes)
- Season with salt and pepper and serve with toast and butter — or add the optional extras below!
Optional extras:
Add chicken to the soup: Remove the chicken bones from the pre-cooked marylands and dice the chicken along with the breasts. Drop the chicken into the soup to warm for 5 minutes prior to serving.
Garnish your soup with a dollop of pesto: In a food processor, wash and add the tops of a bunch of Dutch carrots, the leaves of a bunch of parsley, one small clove of garlic, the juice of half a lemon, half a cup of extra virgin olive oil (or as much as you need to get the pesto to your preferred texture) and salt to taste. Blend until smooth, and add a tablespoon to the top of your soup. This can really freshen up your soup and is a great use of leftover greens.
Garnish your soup with grated parmesan: We like to use Parmigiano Reggiano, but any parmesan is fine — you can’t go wrong finishing off your soup with a generous sprinkling of parmesan and cracked pepper.
Enjoy!