Chicken broth

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When we moved to England for a brighter future, especially because of our children, it didn’t cross my mind, that one day I would miss things, what back home were so natural. Here, now, I know that I can miss the cockerel singing, the chicken cock-a-doodle, the dog barking. In Transylvania you can hear all these even in a big town, if you pass by a house.
In England you can have a dog or a cat around your house if the landlord agrees, or even 2-3 chicken. Of course if the council doesn’t have anything against it.
But, it depends on your neighbours too, they can complain….  I had to teach my little westie how to hunt in silence the cats and the squirrel in the backyard. I don’t want to pay a 1000 pound penalty for his barking. He is very cute, and smart, we had no problems so far but we never know…

My son, Lukas, he is four and a half years old, remembers the farm animals. But my daughter Maya, she is only 1 year and 8 months old, didn’t see only, dogs, cats, squirrels. Thank God to the city farms, so once in a while we go there to see animals, feed them, get to know them. It’s funny, because back home, all these animals, can walk next to you in a village. You don’t need a farm to see them.

 The real problem is, when I want to cook a real, golden chicken broth. Of course I cook broth with turkey neck, duck, beef marrowbone, but you can not compare a free range chicken with all these.
So, if we are asking for some stuff from home, we ask also for a free range chicken, and homemade pasta too.
Ingredients: a free range chicken (I usually cut it in four pieces, and refrigerate it, because I’m cooking for a small family, and it’s too greasy). 5 carrots, 2 parsley roots, a small celeriac, 1 potato, 2 pieces of garlic, 2 champignon (in case you have it home) 1 white onion, a small piece of cabbage, some black peppers.
I wash the meat, and in a bigger sauce pan, I start to cook it in cold water, on a very small fire.  I add just a pinch of salt, and never stir it, it will become cloudy. I clear the foam from it, and I will repeat this action several times during the cooking time. I clean the vegetables and I cut them in half longways. When the meat is half cooked, I add all the vegetables. I check the carrots when they are cooked, the soup is ready.
My opinion is, that this is a very simple but the most tasteful soup. It’s a real medicine!!!
It’s worth cooking in the night before serving it, you will have a beautiful flavor. Moreover, if you don’t like it too greasy, you can take off the iced grease from the top.
I strain the soup, but only that amount what we eat that day. I serve it with homemade pasta (if I have), or any other kind of thin pasta, and I add a bit of freshly chopped parsley leaves. But it is very good with galuska (dumplings) too (http://makviragesmakvirag.blogspot.com/2014/01/g). From the vegetables and the meat I prepare salate de beuf.