Vanessa's Chicken soup

Time of preparation: 1 hour to 1:15

1 whole chiken, chopped until the carcass
1 big pan
1 big onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 medium sized potatoes, in chunks of about 2cm
2 tomatoes, chopped (with skin and seeds)
3 carrots, chopped
a handful of sliced leeks
a handful of parsley
a hadful of chives
1/4 to 1/3 of cabagge, chopped
3-4 spoons of oil
2 cubes of knorr chicken stock
salt and pepper
pasta (a handful)
Boiling water (about 2 litres)

Why a whole chicken? Because when you buy a whole chicken and chop it yourself, you pay less and get more meat. Also, we are going to use the carcass, which is what provides the flavour for this soup. If you don't know how to cut a chicken, you can check this link (an explanation with pictures)




If you checked the link above, we are going to use D and E pieces (at the end of the page). If you checked the video, we are using the back of the chicken. Also, if you want more meat in the soup, you can use the breast (the bottom part of it or the cartilage, if you trimmed the meat off it).

Ok, the soup:

Heat up the oil in medium heat and add the onion and the chicken. Fry it a bit (for about 1-2 minutes, be careful not to burn the onions), add the garlic, fry it a bit more (some 30 seconds tops) and add the boiling water, enough to cover the chicken. If you want more soup, just add more water. Add the 2 knorr cubes, and everything else (apart from the pasta) and let it boil. When it boils, check for salt (it generally needs a bit more) and cover the pan with the lid, reducing the heat. You'll notice that it pretty much tastes like salt water. Let it cook for 30 minutes and the ingredients will cook, giving the soup a delicious scent and taste. After 30 minutes, remove the carcass or pieces of carcass from the soup, placet it on a chopping board and, with the help of 2 forks, remove all the meat from the bones. It gets easier to do it the longer it cooks. After you've been through the carcass, dispose of the bones and return the meat to the pan. Add the pasta (whatever pasta you want, fusili, farfale, etc) and let it cook for some 15 more minutes. We don't want pasta al dente here. This is soup pasta and the softer the better. Check for salt and serve hot.

BE CAREFUL: this soup is soooo good, that everytime I cook it we burn our tongues because it is so delicious we can't wait for it to cool down! And although it is soup, this is a meal on its own, because there are so many pieces to chew that no one would be hungry after it.
Serve with some bread.