Cold Fighting Chicken Soup

First things first. You do not need to be fighting a cold to fall in love with this chicken soup. It's the perfect thing to leave simmering on the stove all afternoon on a day like today. Our first winter storm has hit Los Angeles and I'm craving all things cozy.

If you've never made chicken soup from scratch, start with this recipe. You pop a whole chicken in a pot, cover with water, add some aromatics and simmer away. Easy peasy.

A lot of recipes call for using the aromatics you simmer in the broth as your chopped up veg for the soup. In my opinion that's a surefire way to have mushy, bland veg. Here, we'll discard the aromatics that made the broth and simmer a new batch of chopped celery and carrots for your soup. Hello bright and fresh veg.

Whether you're somewhere where it's stormy or sunny, if you could use some comfort food, gather the following ingredients and let’s make some soup.

Cold Fighting Chicken Soup

1 - 5 lb chicken

1 onion

6 celery stalks, divided

1/2 head of garlic (I cut a whole head in half and use half for the recipe and reserve the rest for another purpose)

1/2 bunch of parsley, stems and leaves separated

2 fresh bay leaves

1 cup fregola pasta

Kosher salt

Cheesecloth

Rinse the chicken and place in a large stock pot. Cover with 4 quarts (16 cups) of water. Make sure the chicken is fully submerged, adding more water as needed. Quarter the onion (no need to peel it), cut three of the celery stalks in half and add the onion and three celery stalks to the pot. Place the pot over high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer. Cover the pot partially and cook for 1.5 hours, checking the soup regularly to make sure it is maintaining a low simmer.

After the soup has been cooking for 30 minutes, add the garlic, parsley stems and bay leaves. Use a spoon to skim off any scum that is collecting on the surface of the soup.

Continue checking the soup to make sure it’s at a low simmer and to skim any scum every 15 minutes or so.

Cook the fregola in heavily salted water according to package instructions.

Chop the remaining three stalks of celery and carrots and set aside. I like to cut the carrots on the bias and the celery into small squares, but live your life and chop them however you like.

When the soup has finished cooking, remove the chicken and aromatics from the pot. Strain the broth through a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Return 3 quarts (12 cups) of broth to the pot along with the chopped carrots and celery and two tablespoons of Kosher salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Reserve the remaining broth for another purpose (now you have homemade chicken stock - you’re welcome!).

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the dark meat off (legs and thighs) and shred by hand, discarding any skin and bones. Reserve the breast meat for another purpose like this chicken salad.

When the vegetables have finished cooking, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the fregola along with the shredded chicken. Roughly chop the parsley leaves and add them to the pot. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.