Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[The Dogmother]

You can make this in a big pan on the hob, but a slow cooker is definitely better and much more economical on energy. For something so delicious, it really is easy to make.

 

You will need a free range chicken carcass that you’ve picked all or most of the meat off, I also bung in the giblets if they came with it. Pop the carcass in the slow cooker (break down some of the bones if you can but don’t worry too much), chop and fry up in olive oil some onion and one clove of garlic, add to the pot. Chop finely and add some carrot and celery, also some basil and oregano leaves, a bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

 

I roast my chicken stuffed with sprigs of thyme and a quartered lemon – I take the lemon out before using the carcass to make the soup, but leave the thyme in.

 

Boil up about a pint of water and stir in an organic vegetable stock cube (Kallo or Bouillon are good ones), pour over the carcass and vegetables and then add more water to bring the level up so that it covers the carcass as much as possible but is a couple of inches below the top of the pot.

 

I cook this on low overnight, so about 8 hours. I stir it if I’m around and use a potato masher to crush the carcass once the bones are soft – this releases the marrow which is very nutritious.

 

When it’s cooked, remove all the liquid to use as soup. The Italian recipe is to boil it with tiny soup pasta in it ('Stellini'), whisk in an egg white (free range of course) and then sprinkle with parmesan… delish.

 

The veggies can be used again to form the basis of a veggie pasta sauce (never waste anything), just add some tomatoes, tomato puree and a bit more onion then boil down and liquidise.