Once again I’m trying to think about how to list measurements which can really vary a lot according to your preference and number of eaters. Doing it as I did in the video would serve four people. However, if you let it reduce for less time so you have more liquid, or use a bigger chicken with more meat, or a bigger pot, or more vegetables, you can tweak this recipe according to the number of people you’re cooking for. As I mentioned, this stock is wonderful to freeze and store in your kitchen for risotto or brodo con tortellini or many other dishes. I always leave it on a low heat for 6-7 hours but I’ve tasted my stock at three hours and it’s still delicious. For the pasta, I tend to make 80 grams of flour to one egg per person.
INGREDIENTS:
CHICKEN STOCK & SOUP
1 whole chicken
6 large carrots
1 large bunch celery
3 large onions
1 whole head garlic + 6 cloves
olive oil
1 large leek
1 tablespoon salt + salt to season chicken
1 tablespoon black pepper + pepper to season soup
fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, thyme, fennel leaves, dill, rosemary)
1/2 cup white wine
1 large lemon (zest and juice)
FARFALLINE PASTA
240 grams flour
2 pinches salt
3 eggs + 1 yolk
METHOD:
- Salt your chicken and, if desired, cut apart the breasts and legs.
- Place all chicken pieces in a pan on a high heat with a little olive oil to brown on both sides.
- Chop two of the three onions and place in the pan with the chicken to caramelise a little.
- Roughly chop half the carrots, half your celery including leaves, the leek and the full head of garlic sliced in half.
- Place vegetables in a large pot with the tablespoon of pepper, half the fresh herbs, the golden chicken pieces and onion and fill to the top with water so everything is covered.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer and that’s it – you can leave your stock for the next six hours. Just maybe skim any white stuff that floats to the top every now and then. You can remove the breasts after half an hour or so, once they’re cooked so they don’t dry out.
- For the soup, dice the other half of the celery, the remaining carrots, one onion and six cloves of garlic.
- Now for the pasta! In a large bowl, mix flour with the salt and then crack three eggs and the fourth yolk into the centre.
- Using a fork, gradually mix a little flour from the outside into the well in the middle until you have a wet ball of dough. Knead it for 4 to 10 minutes or until the ball is smooth, adding more flour if it’s too sticky. Wrap airtight and leave to rest for half an hour to an hour.
- Divide dough into quarters (keeping the pieces you’re not working on wrapped so they don’t dry out) and roll them out into strips with a rolling pin or use a pasta machine.
- Cut into little rectangles and then pinch them together in the middle, as shown in the video. You can leave these to rest at room temperature covered with a tea towel until we’re ready to cook them. Just don’t lay them on top of each other or they could stick. I like to lay them on baking paper.
- When your stock is done (you decide – you can always add a little more salt if it hasn’t had that long but I would recommend waiting the full six hours) drain the liquid into a bowl and sort through the solids to discard the vegetables, herbs and bones and retrieve the chicken.
- Shred the chicken breasts and other meat into fine pieces with your fingers.
- In your large pot, gently cook the previously prepped diced carrot, onion and celery.
- When the onion is transparent, add the chopped garlic and cook on a low heat for a minute.
- Add white wine and cook until there is no more liquid.
- Now pour back in your drained stock.
- Add a tablespoon of salt, a generous amount of black pepper, zest and juice of a large lemon, and thyme (pulled from the stalks so it is in tiny pieces). Taste to see if it’s to your liking. Every chicken is different so some may require more salt.
- Add in the shredded chicken and your pasta and call out to anyone dining with you to come immediately to the table! You don’t want to overcook the pasta so turn the heat off just before it tastes done so you can account for the time it is sitting in the pot (or bowl) of boiling liquid. The pasta could take as little as five minutes to cook if you’ve made them very thin, or as long as 15 minutes. At this point, add finely chopped fresh parsley and serve. *Note: If you have a lot of stock and chicken and don’t think you can eat it all in one sitting, divide the soup into two pots and only cook the pasta in one, otherwise your soup will sit with leftover pasta overnight and all the liquid will be absorbed by the pasta. This amount of pasta will make enough for you to use only 2/3 and keep the remaining third for the next day. You can always extend the soup with a bit of water for leftovers. I hope you like it. I really think it’s worth the wait!