I made this soup a few weeks ago and froze it. It was so good I could hardly stand it. John was super impressed. I didn’t write down what I did. The following is the recipe I followed today. I hope it is close. By the way, this makes a lot of soup so you may want to halve the recipe.
Note: Unless otherwise described, I use a fairly large dice because I like to be both rustic and lazy.
Soup stock (adapted from Tom Colicchio’s turkey stock recipe)
1-2 tablespoons butter
2 onions, diced
1 cup carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup diced celery
4 quarts chicken stock
1 chicken carcass (I bought a whole chicken from the store. If you follow a low sodium diet, you should probably use low sodium chicken broth unless you prepare your own chicken.)
(Note: I threw in the onion peels because they were a beautiful brown color.)
1. Saute vegetables in butter over medium heat 15-30 minutes, until deeply browned. Add chicken carcass either at beginning or after it’s cooked for awhile depending on whether it’s going to get in your way or not. Browning it a little will add flavor.
2. Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock and deglaze the pan so you can loosen all of the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan.
3. Add the rest of the stock, raise heat to a boil then lower to a simmer for 45 minutes.
4. Strain the broth and set aside.
The soup
1-2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 onions, diced
2 cups carrots, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1-2 heads of chard, leaves removed from ribs. Dice the ribs and slice the leaves (stack leaves, roll into a cigar shape the short way and then slice into 1/2 inch wide strips).
2 large shallots, minced
cooked chicken, torn into small pieces
8-12 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces, cooked and drained. (After you’re done cooking the bacon, add 1/2 cup of water to deglaze the pan and reserve this liquid to add to the soup.)
Black pepper to taste
Hot sauce or ground red pepper to taste
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1. Cook onions, carrots, and minced chard ribs in butter or oil over medium heat for 20-30 minutes until deep brown and caramelized.
2. Add garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add this mixture to a large soup pot along with the reserved chicken stock and balsamic vinegar.
4. Let boil and add chard leaves until wilted. Lower heat
5. Add cooked chicken, bacon, and deglazing liquid from the bacon pan. Add additional chicken stock or water to thin soup if needed. (Wait until the chard is cooked before making this call.)
6. Season to taste. I like to add lots of black pepper and Frank’s hot sauce. I don’t add salt since the salt in the bacon and the chicken will blend into the broth as the soup sits around. Salt can always be added at the table if you want.
My Eyes Are Up Here 