Chicken Stock in the Instant Pot

I'll start by saying that until I bought the Instant Pot pressure cooker on Amazon Prime Day I made a pretty basic and not very flavorful stock by simply simmering a whole chicken and some veggie scraps together on the stove top. Now that I have the Instant Pot my stock tastes much more flavorful and is a lot faster to make.

Ingredients List:

1 4-5 lb Roasting chicken, with neck and gizzards (if these are missing it is ok)
Water
4 Celery Stalks, chopped into large pieces
3 Carrots, chopped into large pieces
One whole onion, chopped into large pieces
Feel free to use any vegetable scraps (onions bits with skins, carrot peels and ends, celery leaves and ends, garlic scraps, parsley, etc.)
2 Bay Leaves
1/4 Tsp Black Peppercorns (cracked pepper is fine instead)

Equipment list:

Instant Pot (I have 6 qt version) 

Remove the neck and gizzards from a whole roasting chicken. Place the neck and the chicken, breast side up, into the Instant Pot pressure cooker and add 2 cups of water. Set aside gizzards. Secure the lid. Cook at high pressure for 25 minutes, and allow for natural pressure release. (If your chicken is over 5 pounds, add a few extra minutes to ensure it cooks all the way through.).

1. While chicken is cooking, chop up into large chunks 4 stalks of celery, 3 carrots,  garlic cloves, and a whole onion.

1. Remove chicken and neck from cooker. Do not remove the liquid! Place chicken in a casserole dish or a deep plate to catch drippings, and allow it to cool enough to touch it.

1. Harvest all meat from chicken for later use. I use three bowls: meat, bones/other good stuff, and skin. When in doubt, put it in the bone-bowl. If you get a little skin in there, that's okay - you'll just skim the fat off later anyway.

1. The meat should just about fall off the bones. The chicken breasts come off almost whole, and the dark meat just falls into the bowl. There is very little in the third bowl - that's all I'm going to throw away. The rest gets used.

1. Either freeze or refrigerate the chicken harvested - I usually get 4-5 cups.

1. Throw away the skins.

1. Next, I try to chop the bones up as small as possible and place the pieces into the cooker. I have a a good pair of boning shears that make short work of this. The more you can chop up the bones, the more of the gelatin you can release to give your stock that beautiful "jiggle" when it's done. You know you have a beautiful stock when it dances like Jello!

1. Also, dump any juice that seeped out during the harvesting process back into the cooker.

1. So now, you have a little bit of liquid, all your veggies, garlic, and your chopped up chicken bones. Cut up the gizzards and toss them on top, along with the bay leaves and peppercorns. This is when I usually add a few more celery leaves, and maybe a little extra parsley or other herbs you have in the fridge or garden.

1. Fill to "Max-fill" line with water. Secure the lid, and set the cooker to cook at high pressure for 25 minutes, then allow for natural release. It will take a while to come up to pressure because the cooker is so full.

1. Open up the Instant Pot lid after the pin has dropped. You will have to strain out the liquid but it will have fine pieces of bones, etc. so you can't just use a normal pasta strainer for this.

1. Place 2 layers of cheesecloth over a strainer and place the strainer over a LARGE bowl. VERY carefully, pour the contents of the cooker into the strainer, allowing the liquid to run through.

1. Allow the solids to cool to the touch, then gather the ends of the cheesecloth and press/squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the solids. I shift the solids around and squeeze again a couple times to get as much out as possible.

1. Some people like to skim the fat off while it is still liquid. I don't. I think that's too much work. I'd rather peel it off in chunks after refrigerating, when it has hardened..

1. Please, please make sure you're practicing safe food prep - you can't just stick the bowl of steaming hot chicken stock into the fridge and think that the temp will come down fast enough to prevent the growth of bacteria.

1. I usually put the bowl into my sink in an ice bath, and every few minutes, I *gently* stir the stock. After the temp has come down, I'll move it to the fridge overnight or for a few hours until you can see the fat growing thicker at the top of the bowl.

1. In the morning or later that day, scrape off the congealed fat that has risen to the top. Divide into freezable containers in various sizes and freeze until needed.

Note that I didn't add any salt to this so it will be fairly bland after straining out the solids. You can either add tons of salt to it now or wait until you reheat it later on and then add in the seasonings when you make your new dish.

Copy Cat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients*:

10 russet potatoes
4 spicy italian sausages
4 mild italian sausages
2 bunches of kale
2 yellow onions
10 garlic cloves
8 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 lbs bacon
4 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon of Corn Starch (optional)

*I make a huge pot so cut the recipe in half for a smaller batch.

Prep work:

Wash potatoes, leave skin on, cut them in half, then slice them about 1/4 an inch thick so they hold up in the soup.
Remove the sausage from the casing and break up with your hands or cut them into bite size pieces. You can buy sausage without casing if you prefer.
Slice bacon into bite size pieces.
Chop onions into bite size pieces.
Mince garlic.
Take Kale leaves off of their thick stems. Tear or cut leaves into bite size pieces.

Cooking Instructions:
Heat a large stock pot to medium temperature. Add bacon and brown until crispy. Pull out and set onto paper towels on a plate to soak up the oil.  Assess oil situation. Remove some oil if a lot is in the pan. Leave enough to start browning the sausage.  Add sausage and brown then remove onto paper towels on a plate. Assess oil situation. If there is a lot, then remove some leaving enough to saute onions and garlic.  Add onions to the pan with some salt and pepper and saute until translucent. 3/4 of the way through sauteing the onions, add in the garlic. Saute together stirring often until the onions are finished. Be sure not to burn the garlic.  Add the sliced potatoes to the pot then add in the chicken broth a little at a time and scrape the bottom of the pot to get the goodies off of the bottom.  Add in the water and more salt/pepper because the potatoes are bland and require a lot of salt. Bring temperature to high and boil the ingredients until the potatoes become soft. Bring the temp down to medium and add the Kale.  Stir the pot to immurse the kale in the soup. Add back in the sausage and bacon. Stir and taste the soup for salt/pepper and spiciness. Add extra salt and pepper.  If you like spicy food then add in a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.

Once the Kale has softened assess the thickness of the soup. I personally like a thicker heartier soup than Olive Garden's version, but make it however you like. If you'd like it thicker you can bring up the temp to high and boil it longer to break up the potatoes to thicken it. Stir and check on the thickness. Stirring will break down the potatoes more. Once the soup is your desired thickness, lower the temp back to simmer and add in the heavy whipping cream, stir the soup, check one final time for salt/pepper then serve with crusty bread.

If you want a thicker soup but don't want to wait for the potatoes to break down by boiling the soup longer, turn the soup down to simmer.  Take out a small bowl and add a tablespoon of corn starch to a little bit of the heavy whipping cream. Mix them together to remove the lumps. Add in the cream and corn starch mix to the soup along with the rest of the heavy whipping cream.

Check the seasoning once more for salt/pepper and serve with crusty bread.

I make a huge stock pot full and freeze the leftovers in individual portions. Freezes and reheats like a champ.  Cut the recipe in half if you don't want tons of leftovers.

Homemade Chicken and Noodles - Southern Style and thick

I love homemade chicken and noodles just like my Grandma Bea from Kentucky makes.  I love to make the soup PLUS noodles completely from scratch.  Hope you like the recipe and make it for your loved ones too!



Chicken and Noodles Recipe

For the Stock:
1 (4-5 pound) whole hen or chicken
2 stalks of celery with leaves
1 medium onion, cut into large chunks
2 carrots, cut into large chunks
2 teaspoons of salt

For the Stew:

1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/3 cup of chopped carrot
1/3 cup of chopped celery
2 tablespoons Better than Bouillon Chicken Base (find in the broth section at the grocery - Even Real Foods has it in SF)
Black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste after noodles are mixed in.  Chicken base can be salty.
2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning (I use herbs de provence because it is a mixture of the same spices)
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, crushed
8 ounce package of fresh mushrooms, sliced
Homemade noodles (recipe below) or 1 (24-ounce) package of Reames or Grandma's frozen egg noodles
1 (5 ounce) can of evaporated milk (They sell this in a 12-ounce can so just use about half of it)
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1-2 lemons, juiced

Instructions:

Place chicken in a large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, skim off foam, and add celery, onion, carrots and salt. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 1 hour.

Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Once cooled enough to handle, remove the meat tearing into bite sized pieces and discard the bones and skin. I wear some disposable plastic kitchen gloves we have in our kitchen so I don't get oil all over my hands. Strain but reserve the broth, discarding the vegetables. Return the stock to the pot.

Add the chopped onion, carrots and celery. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the chicken base, pepper, poultry seasoning, thyme, and add the juice of one lemon to brighten it up. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and noodles (Recipe below), and combine the evaporated milk and cornstarch to make a slurry; stir in. Bring up to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir the noodles every once and a while during the boiling process so they do not clump together or stick to the bottom of the pot. Add the shredded chicken to the pot, simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes or until chicken is warmed through, noodles are tender and sauce is thickened.

Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. You can leave it simmering on low until it reaches the desired thickness. Be sure to stir occasionally so you don't burn any of the stew at the bottom of the pot.

Feeds an army - recipe can be divided in half. Does not freeze.  Does re-heat very well in the microwave.  It will thicken up over night as well

Cook's Note: Shortcut this by using a store-bought cooked rotisserie chicken, commercial chicken broth and frozen noodles. You’ll probably need about 2 (32-ounce) cartons of broth, but definitely don't leave out the base with that substitute.

Homemade Noodles

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
2-3 tablespoon of cold water, more or less
(If too flour-like then add more water. If too sticky add more flour)

Sift 1 of the two cups of flour with the salt into a roomy bowl. Make a well in the center and add the egg and water. Work the dough together until stiff. Knead until dough is smooth. Form into a ball. Sift the other cup of flour on the counter or a working surface and place the ball of dough on top. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Place all pieces except one for you to work on into the bowl you just mixed the dough in (You'll roll the dough out and make noodles bit by bit).  Take one piece of the dough and roll it out on a cutting board. Flip over and rotate until you get really thin dough.  It plumps up a ton and if you make it too thick it will be flour-like in the center which is no bueno.

Slice the flattened dough into strips that are a couple inches long. Then cut each of these strips with a sharp knife into thin noodles (think 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide) so that you have bite size pieces after they plump up in the broth. Place the noodles into a bowl or on a flat baking tray and sprinkle with flour and toss so that they they don't stick together. Repeat the process until all of your sections of dough are sliced into thin noodles.

After all of the noodles are made, Drop the noodles into the simmering broth with the mushrooms at the time suggested above, cover and simmer on medium about 25 to 30 minutes.

Cook's note: I used a kitchenaid mixer with the sheeting attachment and the fettucine attachment and it worked wonderfully.