Slow cooking is wonderful. It fills the kitchen with warm smells and makes hungry bellies rumble in delight. We have a love for slow cooked dinners and especially soups. Cooking a dinner slowly also gives you the time to do other things. As the soup simmers you get a chance to read your book, knit on your project or go for a quiet walk. A good soup is filling, healthy and it keeps you warm.

Slow cooking in the family cabin

Thea's family has a small cabin north of Oslo, it gets electricity from solar panels and water from a well. It is in all senses a slow experience. It's a charming, but basic cabin in the woods. We happened to go there on a snowy spring-day and to warm us up we made a delicious chicken soup. In this post we would like to share the recipe with you, it is simple, basic and slow, just like the cabin.  

Ingredients (5 people): 

1 whole chicken - preferably organic and free range. 
Thyme and salt

Broth: 
Water for the soup
Use the chicken carcass for stock
A whole garlic
Two stems of lemon grass
Chunk of ginger
1 red chilli with seeds and 1 read chilli without seeds

Two parsley roots - peeled
Three carrots - peeled
One spring onion
One celery root - peeled
Four charlotte onions
Salt

Time: This lovely soup loves to go slow. It can almost cook forever, but two-three hours will do.

Rolls or fresh bread with butter on the side. 
Two limes cut in fours for a fresh finish on the soup. 

How to: 

Start by cutting the chicken in to big chunks and fry them in a pan to make them golden. Season with thyme, and salt. 

As the chicken is frying you can get started on the broth. Start with a big pot and put the leftover chicken carcass into the boiling water. Chop everything into delicate chunks. Not to big and not too small. 

Do the same with the rest of the veg and when the frying chicken is lovely and golden, put them into the pot. Put the lid on, stir now and then and let the soup finish itself. This is the time for you to start your knitting, read a chapter of your book, take a walk or play a game. Do not rush - enjoy the smell of slow cooking. 

After two or three hours the soup is finished. Add salt to your own preference, heat some rolls or slice some bread and serve with butter and lime. 

Enjoy!