I had a bit of a shock yesterday afternoon when I remembered that the stock I was making from Thursday's leftover chicken carcass was still simmering away in the lower Aga oven. Panic call to my husband who had thought of it a minute earlier and removed it (how's that for telepathy?)
I thought there would be just an inch or two of liquid left and that the pan would be totally destroyed but not at all. What I found was an unbelievably concentrated dark stock, almost more like a veal stock than a chicken one.
It was too strong for the delicate vegetable soup I was planning for today's lunch however so I had to change tack and rustle up a different kind of soup from what we had in the fridge, freezer and storecupboard.
I sweated off an onion, added a large clove of garlic, stirred in a couple of teaspoons of mixed cumin and coriander then added just under a litre of stock. In went 125g of Puy Lentils which I cooked until they were just done then the chopped remains of a pack of frozen broccoli* I tested out for the site a while ago - along with a handful of fresh basil leaves (I'd have used coriander instead if I'd had some).
I resisted the temptation to blitz the lot in the blender which would have turned it into an unappealing pond-like sludge and fried up a few slices of leftover chorizo and some more basil leaves to garnish what was by now more of a stew than a soup. But it was very tasty and perfectly suited to this odd, cold sunny/showery spring day. There's even enough left for tomorrow - though no more chorizo so I'll have to add a bit of bacon. Oh, and a final drizzle of olive oil à la caldo verde is good too.
* Spinach would have been even better if I'd had some.
4 comments:
Pulling something together like this is always so satisfying, isn't it? And it sounds delicious!
I've done that so many times. Last night I left a pot of Nigella's Grandma's Bean and Barley Soup (Feast - highly recommended) in the bottom oven of the Aga for 16 hours instead of one or two... it was different to usual but fine.
Not so good when you leave things in the top oven though. Left some pork crackling to crisp up the other day and found it utterly incinerated a couple of hours later. Easy to do because there are no lights or burning smells!
ah, yes. The recent reference to turkey legs reminded me of Christmas when I always aim to get ahead by buying a couple of turkey drumsticks and roasting them with loads of veg to make gravy to freeze ahead (and getting a couple of meals plus stock out of them forbye). Last year, after 18 hours forgotten in the hot oven, I not only had to buy more drumsticks but a new roasting tin as well.
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