A picture of the finished raised bed:
I already sowed some radish seeds, and will sow some carrot seeds as well for a late harvest before winter. After that, we have to be patient and start properly next spring!
The weather was autumnal, and so in between the burst of sunshine we had thunderstorms and lots of wind and rain. Perfect weather for nice warm soup!
I always save chicken carcasses and I freeze them until I have enough for two large pots of broth.
Here's a simple and delicious recipe for chicken bone broth that I think is failsafe:
Ingredients:
Chicken carcass and bones, enough to fill 2/3 of a large soup pot.
good splash of organic apple cider vinegar, unfiltered
1 onion, outer dirt removed, quartered
1 large clove of garlic, cut in half
celery root, leaves and stalk, roughly chopped
whatever leftover raw vegetable cuttings you have: i use ends of carrots, some cauliflower
parsley, about a handful
a medium sized tomato, quartered
about 6 juniper berries, dried
about 6 pimento berries, dried
about 20 black peppercorns
2 cloves, dried
sea salt to taste
In the large soup pot add the carcasses and bones and cover with filtered cold water. Make sure the bones are under about an inch of water. Add the apple cider vinegar and cover, and leave for an hour. Don't turn on the heat yet.
After an hour or so, turn the heat under the pot on and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat until the liquid is just simmering. With a slotted spoon take off any scum and foam that floats on the surface. After about 4 hours of simmering, add all the other ingredients save for the salt. Leave to simmer for another 8 or so hours, or longer. I tend to switch mine off before I go to sleep and switch on again the next morning. I've found that simmering for up to 24 hours but with a minimum of 8 hours gives nice results. Once you deem the broth ready (just taste it), sieve out all the debris (bones, vegetables, spices) and add the salt to taste. Once the salt is incorporated, you can divide the broth in portions, leave to cool and store. The broth keeps for about 5 days in the fridge, and months in the freezer.
I use this as a base for many soups.
I'm making a courgette or broccoli dinner-soup on Tuesday, so I'll post a recipe and some pictures of the result.
xxx C.
