You see the soup first because it is not really nice to open a page and see a raw chicken on top of a few vegetables, is it?
Basically, I made a perfect roast chicken last Sunday and used the left overs to make an absolutely delicious chicken soup as I love the idea of not wasting left overs!!!
I hate waste and for a while now have been recycling my food because the data shocked me: In São Paulo alone, the waste on food goes to about R$ 14 billlions each year { almost double for US $ and treble it for English pounds}.
I decided I cannot bear to play to much of a part on this, so here is one delicious idea.
Below, what you see is the chicken before it goes into the oven:
Roast Chicken:
1 chicken {organic or free range when possible}
5 cloves of garlic smashed
Zest and juice of one lemon {only the yellow part of the zest as the white will make the food bitter}
2 sprigs of flat leaf parsley
1 pinch of chillies {optional}
salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
1 fennel bulb chopped in 4
Hokaido {japanese pumpkin} in chunks
Mushrooms
Any vegetable you like
Mix the garlic, chopped parsley, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper, chillies{if using} and spread it thinly inside the skin of the chicken. Lift the skin with your fingers and put some of this mix in and then from the outside massage the skin so you spread that seasoning on to the flesh. This will give your chicken some flavour, as normally the seasoning stays on the skin. But, as we cannot eat them on this diet, the flavours go on the actual bird.
Inside the cavity put a little of the garlic mix, 2 quarters of the fennel and a bay leaf.
On a pre-heated oven and a non stick tray, roast the bird with the breast side down for 20 minutes and then lift the chicken from this tray {discard the liquid fat that stayed on it, as this will prevent you from the temptation of eating the fat that runs from the chicken} and lay the half roasted chicken on top of another tray where all the vegetables are laying already sprinkled with some salt and pepper. Take it back to the oven until it is done.
Allow 20 minutes per pound of chicken.
Let it sit for 5 minutes before you serve it, so the juices settle and make sure not to eat the skin if you are on any diet. But if u r not...well, have my bit!!!!
For the Soup:
Add the carcass and any left over vegetables that have been roasted {chop them into small bits first} to a pan with enough water to cover it. Let it boil for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Remove the bones, shred the chicken and serve with a handful of spinach leaves thrown in just as you switch the heat off and a handful of fresh parsley.
Enjoy!!!!!!
