Quick Chicken Stock

From my kitchen

I often pick-up a roasted chicken from the store on the way home from work for a quick dinner. After dinner I’ll throw the carcass and any left-over meat into a stockpot w/ carrots, onions, celery and any other vegetables I have lurking in my crisper (I also keep a bag of vegetable tops & trimmings on hand for stock making).

• Chicken or turkey carcass, plus any left-over meat
• 1 med Onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 Unpeeled carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 rib Celery or celeriac root, chopped
• 2-4 sprigs sprigs fresh thyme (less or none if the chicken was heavily seasoned)
• Fresh parsley, this is a great use of parsley stems!
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 T black peppercorns
• Whatever else you find in your crisper

Break up the carcass so it takes up less room in the pot — if it takes up too much room in the pot you’ll end up adding too much water, making it weak. Add the vegetables, herbs & leftover meat to the bottom of the pot (added first keeps them from floating to the top and interfering w/ skimming), add the chicken carcass and pour enough water to barely cover.

Heat over medium to high heat until the water comes to a simmer.  Turn the heat down low enough to keep the broth at a slow simmer (only a few bubbles bubbling up) — you don’t want to stock to boil because that will make the stock cloudy. Simmer uncovered for 2-3 hours. For the first 30 minutes, occasionally skim off any fat or froth from the surface.

When the stock is done, strain into a clean pot or heat-resistant container. Let it cool uncovered, for an hour before putting it into the refrigerator.

I like to concentrate my stock by bringing it to a hearty simmer after straining and reduce it by at least half. Once reduced let it cool and pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Transfer the cubes to a freezer bag for storage.

Concentrated stock cubes are great for adding flavor to sautéed greens, pasta sauces or making a quick pan sauce!!