Memory soup

Today, I am feeling super nostalgic. I had a bunch of chicken bones in my fridge from the chicken that I roasted up this week, because I wanted to make bone broth this weekend. I even managed to save a wee bit of the chicken meat to throw in there. Toss that in a stockpot and bring to a light boil, skimming the fat and gunk off the top as it cooks. You’ll know that it’s done when the chicken stops giving off junkie looking stuff. Try to remove as much of the fat floating on top as you can, but I will admit that I like leaving a little bit of it there to add flavour.

Add veggies (red pepper, carrots, potatoes, yams, red onion, so much organic garlic… ), then add veggie bouillon, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with paprika (in my case, I used chili powder because I ran out of paprika this week), taste and adjust seasonings and top with fresh parsley.

Cover with the lid adjar, turn your stove on the nearly lowest setting, and then just let it sit there all afternoon. I have found that the ideal time for my own flavour preference is about 5 to 6½ hours. So I have had that simmering since noon today, and the whole place smells like heaven.

The best part about this soup is the reason why I said I am so nostalgic today – it’s exactly like my Grandpa Zetts’ soup. My family (all of us, extended family included) are super into soup. While I like many different types and flavours, my family literally only ever eats one type of soup – a chicken and so many veggies healing EVERYTHING soup. Don’t forget the secret ingredient – a spice called Vegeta (basically it’s a vegetable bouillon with tons of flavour). The soup has a light but richly flavoured broth, chicken breast and every vegetable that we have in the house on the day we make it.

The recipe has been altered and changed and had stuff added and taken away over the years. I know that all of my siblings and I learned the recipe from our mom, who obviously learned it from her mom and dad, as grandma and grandpa both make the same soup and it just as amazing. Each of us ends up with a slightly different result whenever we make it though… but today, mine tastes exactly like the way my Grandpa Zetts made it.

Grandpa passed away during March last year, just before the pandemic hit, and I wasn’t ready for it. None of us were, even though he had been fighting cancer for months. Him and I had always been really close, as I was his and grandma’s eldest granddaughter and so we all had a special bond. I used to go to their house to pray the rosary with them… sit for hours just chatting and drinking tea… go for long walks (one of grandpa’s favourite things to do), especially around the marina by their house up in Bayshore when I was a kid… Grandpa had worked at Ford Motor Companies his entire life, and maintained many friendships clear into his senior years with many of the people he knew there.

That was the thing about grandpa… everybody who knew him, loved him. His stories and jokes were the best. His poems were cute and just the sort of thing that were perfect to share around the table at family dinners and especially during the holidays.

I just have so many amazing memories of everything about grandpa, but his soup was one thing that I really loved because his always tasted exactly like mine has been turning out these days. I can’t figure out exactly which variable I do differently than my family (especially my sister and my dad, who both make amazing soup… but it is remarkably different than mine). Is it the amount of salt? The fact that I cut up the veggies and no one else does? The fact that I use a few different vegetables than they do?

Who knows. Whatever the case, all of us make amazing soup, and today’s is no different. But it taste exactly like the way that grandpa used to make it… and so nostalgia, a few tears and some heavy reflecting is going on over here this weekend.

No better way to spend the spring… it’s all about family. Family is everything.

So enjoy this recipe! I am simply calling it "Grandpa Zetts' Soup". I promise that you will love it.

Grandpa Zetts’ Soup:

• 1 chicken or turkey carcass (you really just need the bones, but if you manage to save a little bit of meat, feel free to toss that in as well)

• 4 potatoes, scrubbed (so that you can leave the skin on) and quartered

• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped

• 2 stalks celery, chopped

• 2 sweet peppers, seeded and chopped (today, I used one red and one orange)

• ½ onion (red onions work too)

• 3 – 5 cloves garlic, depending on how much you like (remember though, garlic is super great for your immune system! So especially in these crazy COVID times, things that boost your immune system are key to staying healthy!)

• 1 tbsp. chicken bouillon

• Sprig of fresh parsley

• Handful of black peppercorns

• 1 tbsp. Vegeta (vegetable bouillon works here too)

• 1 – 2 tsp. sea salt

• 1 package small stick noodles, cooked

1) Fill a large stockpot about ¾ full with water and place the chicken or turkey meat and bones into the pot. Set the heat to medium-high and bring to a steady simmer. Using a skimmer or large spoon, skim the “junk” off the top as it rises while the meat cooks… you don’t want to eat that. You’ll know that you are ready to move on to the next step when less of the “junk” starts coming off the carcass

2) While the chicken is cooking, prepare the vegetables: scrub the potatoes really well under running water, then cut into quarters. Peel the carrots and chop. Chop the celery and sweet peppers. Dice the onion and cut the garlic into halves. Set all of this aside

3) Turn the heat down to low and add all of the prepared vegetables

4) Add the chicken bouillon, parsley, peppercorns, Vegeta and sea salt. Stir gently to combine

5) Cover the pot leaving the lid slightly adjar and the heat set to low. Let simmer for a few hours

6) I like to do a taste test after about an hour to give me a chance to adjust the seasonings

7) When you are ready to serve, turn off the heat and cook the noodles (it only tastes a few minutes)

Using a ladle, spoon a generous helping of soup and veggies into large soup bowls and add the noodles. Top with a sprinkle of additional black pepper if you like

9) Enjoy! Best served and shared with family and friends