With fresh chickens in the deep freeze, I wanted to make a batch of chicken stock. In Spain, my family makes an amazing meal in a pot called Puchero. Soup bones of beef with marrow, ham, and chicken are added to enrich the soup and create a stock. After the meal is eaten, the stock is reserved and saved for other meals. Here in the states, my mother came up with our own form of puchero simply using chicken since beef bones and jamon serrano are not readily available. Though delicious in its own right, it will never compare to what my Abuela Rora makes in Sevilla. Lord willing, when we visit next summer, I’ll be able to feature Monday’s with Abuela Rora.
A rich broth made with chicken and garbanzo beans.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole farm fresh chicken, cut up reserving backbone in the freezer for a later stock
- 1 cup garbanzo beans, soaked overnight
- 1 onion, quartered
- 3 carrots, cut into thirds
- 3 celery sticks, cut into thirds
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3-4 potatoes, roughly chopped
Method:
- Cut up the chicken, reserving the backbone
- In a large stainless steel pot, add the cut up chicken, garbanzo beans, onion, carrots, celery sticks, and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.
- Add 3 quarts of water and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Once simmering, skim off the scum that floats to the top of the pot, and continue to simmer for 1-2 hours.
- 20 minutes before serving, add the potatoes to the puchero.
That’s it! Once the puchero with stock is done, serve right away. I like to drizzle my puchero with olive oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar.
Once the meal is eaten, drain the stock through a colander and reserve in pint size (2 cups) mason jars leaving an inch from the top and freeze. Now you have homemade chicken stock to use for future meals. SIMPLE!
Do you add more water during the 8 to 24 hour simmer or just let it boil down?