chicken stock

Chicken Stock

1 chicken carcass (or 4 or 5 big legs, several wings etc) with the leftover meat and skin on
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
parsley/thyme etc
salt/pepper

Put the chicken in a big pot, fill with enough water to cover the bird. Add all the veggies roughly chopped and skins/leaves included. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Let cook for several hours until the chicken has basically fallen apart, meat off the bones etc and all the veggies are very soft. Drain through a colander or cheesecloth saving the water and discarding the veggies. Use as is or bring to a simmer and reduce even further. As it cools it will gel and the fat will rise to the top, you can skim it off (my chicken seems to be very lean and there isn't much to skim off) or leave it in for flavor.

Freezes very well, in mini Tupperwares or ice cube trays. You can use any veggies you want or have lying around, I've also added bell peppers, garlic, potato skins etc Just make sure they're washed.

This is a great way to use up chicken that you normally would be throwing away for future soups, risottos and anything else that calls for chicken stock. It has FAR less sodium than bouillon cubes or prepackaged stock and tastes delishous! ;-)