The other night, I was needing to use several things in my fridge, so I made large pot of soup with it all, and it turned out to be a very happy combination. If you don’t happen to have any burdock root laying around (and I only did because of the Veggie Share–I didn’t even know what burdock WAS until last week) you can either leave it out or substitute radishes. Using potatoes instead would also work, although that makes it less freeze-able.
Burdock is a long skinny (ugly!) root that can be cut up and added raw to salads, or thrown into soups or stir-fries. I scrubbed it well before cutting it up.
Here’s what went into my soup:
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 c. sliced burdock root
- 1 chicken carcass, plus about 1 1/2 c. chunks of chicken meat
- 2 quarts of water (enough to more than cover the carcass)
I let the above come to a boil and then simmer over low heat for a while, before pulling the carcass/bones out and discarding them. (I didn’t have time to let it simmer for days, so I added a bit of pre-fab chicken stock to add to the flavor.)
Then I added approximately 5 c. chopped greens (I used a mix of spinach and sorrel. Sorrel has an interesting property when put into soups: it turns dark green and then sort of melts. It ends up adding color and flavor to the soup, but doesn’t stay intact.)
I added salt, pepper, and a rosemary-garlic herb blend to taste. I let the soup simmer for a few more minutes, and then served it. It was reminiscent of a wonderful, simple soup we had at a Japanese restaurant in downtown St. Paul. And guess what? Even my picky eaters ate it! They picked out the suspiciously vegetable-like green stuff, but they ate it!
Laura
