101 Uses for a Roast Chicken #11: Chicken, Veggie, and Barley Soup

Yes, another installment of everyone's (well, all five of you) favourite foodie series: the seemingly unending 101 Uses for a Roast Chicken. God, is this only #11?

OK, it's winter, it's cold (at least for some us), it's also cold season. In an attempt to use up some of my many frozen chicken carcasses, as well as incorporate some barley that I inherited when my brother moved across the country last summer, I decided to make this soup.

The stock was done, as usual, in my handy crock pot. Instructions here. To flavour this particular stock, I used:

1 lemon, quartered
1 bunch cilantro (just chuck it all in whole)
2 carrots
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 onion
salt & pepper to taste

I got about 10 cups of stock and around 2 cups of chicken meat from the bones. To make the soup, I once again let the stock sit in the fridge overnight so that the fat solidified and could be skimmed off when it came time to finish off the soup. I as the stock heated up I added:

1 chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1L jar home-canned tomatoes, these ones with the green peppers and garlic added to them
1 can mini-corn, sliced into bite-sized pieces
3 cloves freshly grated garlic
2/3 cup barley

Simmer until barley is soft.

As you can see, lots of garlic, lots of lemony goodness. So, not only is this soup comforting on a chilly winter's night, it's nourishing should you have what my good friend Karen refers to as the "snarflies."

Dear Karen: I do hope you're feeling better soon, and I wish I could send some soup to you in E-town! Alas...it doesn't mail well!