Brothy pot roast chicken for endless excellent soups...

A time-honed recipe that keeps my whole family going through these cold winter months, plus a few spin off soup ideas

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This bird and its fragrant, goodness filled broth has been happening on repeat

Hello my friends. I hope you are well. And I mean WELL. I’m not going to bang on again about how we are STILL ILL, because it’s frankly so boring now, so instead I’m going to send you a gift in the form of this method for brothy pot roast roast chicken, which is so easy and effortless to make, but results in a divine broth of deep goodness, as well as tender poached chicken meat, which can both be used in so many different recipes and meals at this time of year. It’s just what you might fancy if you’re suffering with any of the lurgies that are flying round atm, and also a great preventative measure too.

The kicker: it’s pretty easy to throw together and if you’re feeling super low on energy you can leave out the browning of the chicken - though I personally feel it’s worth the extra step if you can manage it for what it brings to the party in flavour terms. We’ve been drinking vats and vats of bone broth (beef and chicken) and subsequent soup, and this weekend I’m going to be honouring soup season by sharing my ultimate spin on an incredibly epic, and rather indulgent soup (HINT: it’s French, with a British twist) for my paid subscribers, so watch this space for that.

It’s so good with orzo and chard

But for now, here’s how I make this brothy roast chicken, in which caramelised whole chicken is gently blipped and poached/pot roasted in water with aromatics, creating a rich and satisfying broth and beautifully soft, tender chicken. It’s hands off and simple and makes for a good few meals for the whole family, resulting in some proper wobbly stock which can be eked out even further and let down with water. What’s not to love?

Here’s what I do. Take a whole chicken, the best you can find - probably about 1.2-1.5kg - bring it up to room temperature then and brown it off in a large, heavy bottomed skillet or frying pan in a little oil, or better still - chicken fat - carefully turning it with tongs so as not to break the skin, and getting some nice colour all over the breast. Then, onto aromatics, which are very personal and hugely adaptable depending on what you like and what you have to hand. I tend to nestle some thyme, freshly cut root ginger and fresh bay leaf into the cavity and season well with sea salt and black pepper. I also like to quarter a head of fennel if I have it, a couple of small onions (though chunked leeks would also be nice) and chuck in a peeled carrot or two and a star anise, then cover the whole lot with fresh water and bring gently to the boil on the hob. I skim off any scum (which I find weirdly satisfying, anyone else?), then I put the lid on and pop it into an oven preheated to 150 fan for 2 hours. After this time the chicken is cooked, succulent and pulling easily off the bone and the stock is rich and fragrant. Plus, the kitchen smells like COMFORT.

Now you have both perfectly tender chicken meat and a wondrous stock, the first thing to do is remove the chicken from the liquid and let it rest until cool enough to pull from the bones and shred. Strain the broth and then either allow it to cool as well, or get cracking on whatever you want to make.

I should say you have a lovely base broth here which has a nice balanced flavour from the veg and aromatics, but can be layered up even more - and probably needs seasoning. I tend to siphon off what I’m using for each meal and season as I go so that I have a stock to build from, rather than seasoning the whole lot as you never know what you might want to use it for - and I tend to keep the seasoning on the minimal side for my daughter.

Good things to do with your chicken and stock

I would probably start with some kind of broth/chicken/noodle/rice/pasta/veg bowl situation, because it’s a perfectly balanced, restorative and delicious meal and it’s pretty much already done, you just need to add in some greens and extra seasoning and cook some noodles or pasta. I love to do a really simple one with a clear broth, laced with some more grated ginger, perhaps some fish sauce, a splash of soy, spritz of lemon or lime and a pinch of sugar to balance, with ramen noodles, tenderstem broccoli, sliced mushrooms and spring onions, all drizzled with crunchy chilli oil or crispy garlic - always something to add a little texture and crunch. Another favourite is with some cooked orzo or wild rice with wilted chard/tenderstem, shredded chicken and lots of broth spooned over. I did this recently, using one of those pouches of cooked rice for my daughter’s dinner and it went down a storm.

For a richer, more rib-sticking version of chicken noodle soup, I like to do one enriched with coconut milk, inspired by the flavours of Malaysian laksa. I rustle up a really quick curry paste with some ginger, garlic, shallot, curry powder, turmeric, coriander and chilli, and fry that off in coconut oil until lovely and soft and then add in about 400ml of the broth, a tablespoon of fish sauce, can of coconut milk, reducing it with a pinch of sugar for a good 20 minutes, until thickened and really fragrant. I spoon this over bowls filled with cooked noodles and shredded chicken with finely sliced raw red onion and sometimes sliced cucumber. I adore White Masu’s peanut rayu drizzled over this for crunch, and garnish with coriander, spritzing with a bit of lime just before serving.

There are obviously endless iterations of the broth/noodle/rice bowls (and I’d love to hear about some of yours) and that’s even before we’ve got on to all of the chunky veg soups, minestrones and ribollitas which are now endlessly elevated by this broth. Don’t forget about this delicious celeriac, saffron and chickpea number from my archives, and it may be basic, but I’m a total sucker for an old fashioned leek and potato, enriched with cream and topped with crispy frazzled leeks.

Celeriac, chickpea and saffron ribollita

Ooh, and speaking of chickpeas, last night I made this (pictured below) insanely delicious and wholesome golden chickpea, coconut, chard and rice number which turned out so beautifully I’m going to write it up and share it too. It doesn’t rely on chicken stock, and in fact could easily be made vegan by subbing out the chicken stock for veggie stock. Either way it’s spicy, fragrant, layered, balanced and utterly enlivening. It’s the sort of thing you know is so good for you, you’re sort of surprised when it tastes amazing, but taste amazing it really does.

And when you’re done with all of these delicious soupy exploits, you may still have some broth leftover for stashing away in the freezer for stews, braises, risottos or sauces at the drop of a hat. What a total delight. Right, that’s it from me for now, but I will be back in your inboxes soon with something incredibly delicious. Until then, take care and thanks so much for reading and supporting this Substack.

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