The chill of winter has settled over Chicagoland this week, bringing with it not one, but two snowstorms before Thanksgiving! In what seems like an instant, jackets and sandals have been swapped out for coats and boots, and the early morning ritual of scraping snow and ice off the car windshield before venturing out for the day has begun.
During these early days of winter, I like to pull out my stock pot and make my first large batch of chicken broth for the season.
The great thing about chicken broth is that is so versatile. Once made, freeze it in smaller batches to be retrieved as needed for warmth and comfort on a blustery day. It is simplicity itself to bring a small pot of chicken broth to the boil and quickly add ingredients like egg or Pastina (pasta) stars, which will surely delight the young children in the house. Another day, add spinach to the eggs before swirling into chicken broth. Or, finely chop celery, carrots, and then add some noodles and left over chicken pieces to make classic chicken noodle soup. Left over rice and chicken makes a warming chicken and rice soup.
My family’s chicken broth recipe is now online, along with the methods to make egg drop and Italian Stracciatella (rags) soup. But really, the choices of what to add to your homemade chicken broth are endless!
I’ve already shared the recipe with my Conversationalitalian.french followers on Instagram, so if you’d like to see how I make chicken broth, just click on the image below. As you can see, it’s so easy I have one hand behind my back!
The full method for this recipe was posted on the Learn Italian! blog for my website, www.learntravelitalian.com, where all authentic Italian recipes for the home cook that I personally use are found. Below is an excerpt. Click on the link to print off the entire method and enjoy!
Share your comments below if you like, or in our Conversational Italian Facebook group.
Italian Chicken Broth: Egg Drop Soup or Pastina Stars
Italian chicken soup starts with a hearty chicken broth, or “brodo.” Chicken broth is simplicity to make, with just a few ingredients most home cooks have around the house. My mother would drizzle beaten eggs into her chicken broth to make wispy yellow strands of scrambled eggs, for “Egg Drop Soup” as my family called it, also known by its more traditional name of “Stracciatella “ or “Rags Soup.” And, I think every Italian adult has fond memories of their lunches at home as a young child, especially when they discovered tiny star-shaped “pastina” pastas in their chicken broth for “Pastina Soup!”
To make the most flavorful Italian chicken soup, start with a broth made with “stewing” chickens. Stewing chickens are the older, tougher chickens that will soften but not loose their flavor entirely and make a nice broth after even just 1 to 1 1/2 hours of cooking in liquid. The meat of stewing chickens usually can be removed from the bones and added to the soup if desired. Younger frying or broiling chickens can also be used to make chicken broth, but in this case the cooking time should be increased to 2 or 3 hours and by this time most of the chicken’s flavor will have been given up to the soup, rendering the chicken flavorless.
Italian moms know that adding a small tomato will make the chicken broth sweeter, a small potato will add a little starch for body, and if you leave the outer leaves on the onion the broth will become a golden color. Try my family’s simple method and I’m sure your children will agree: Italian chicken soup is the quintessential comfort food! For the full method to make chicken soup, click here.
—Kathryn Occhipinti
Conversational Italian! 
This looks really good. I’ve been thinking about making a brodo rosso but this is tempting!
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Well, why not make both? I make many different kinds of soup. Minestrone, lentil soup, turkey soup recipes all on the same blog. Buon appetito!
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I definitely want to try your handmade cuisine of Italia.
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