Warm up your soul with new take on classic chicken soup

A group of Ottawans has united over a shared love of the liquid-based food, packed with tasty ingredients to keep them warm through the chilly temperatures. 

It's the Ottawa Soup Club.

"It's not a coincidence that we keep going back to soup when we're sick," club member Anne-Marie Cenaiko told CBC Radio's All In A Day.

"I think it's something that is kind of nostalgic for people, in a sense. You think about when you're a kid and you go back to that soup to make yourself feel better."

Sarp Kizir is the club's co-founder and said the group is informal, with people making batches of soup and stew, and arranging trades or organizing group events where they share the fruits of their cooking with friends and family.

"It's a very open club," Kizir said. "I recommend people sort of do their own organizing with their friends and family ... and then branch out."

This week's D is for Dinner recipe comes from Kizir. It's a twist on a classic that's Ottawa Soup Club-certified: chicken, chickpea and parsley "soup for the soul."

Sarp's Chicken Soup for the Soul Recipe

Prepare broth

• Fill 5 litre stock pot with cold water three-quarters of the way. 
• Add 3 medium-sized onions that have been peeled and quartered.
• Add half a garlic bulb, peeled and chopped. 
• Add 4 or 5 one-inch-sized pieces of ginger, cut in half. 
• Add 4 bay leaves.
• Add 3 tablespoons of salt. 
• Grind cracked black pepper, turn mill 6 times.

Poach chicken

• Bring broth to a boil and add 1 whole chicken.
• Let the broth return to a boil and then reduce heat to rolling boil (about medium or medium-low).
• Let chicken poach for between 40 minutes and an hour.   

Cook chicken

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
• Remove chicken from liquid, and place on baking pan. 
• Drizzle chicken with healthy amount of olive oil.
• Season chicken with a couple pinches of salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, garlic powder.  
• Make sure chicken is properly seasoned all over before placing in oven.
• Place baking pan in oven and roast chicken for approximately 24 minutes.

Perfect broth

• In the meantime, remove bay leaves and ginger from broth. 
• Taste liquid to make sure that it's seasoned to your liking — add more salt if needed.

Shred chicken

• Once chicken is roasted, remove from oven and let cool.  
• Once cool, begin separating meat from bones and shred with hands until portions are bite-sized and soup-appropriate. There is nothing wrong with adding bones and skin, also, but only if that's what you like. 

Add finishing touches

• Open 1 can of chickpeas 
• Chop 2 cups of parsley
• Add chicken, chickpeas (with water from can) into soup liquid, and turn up heat to high.
• Add roast chicken drippings from baking pan into liquid as well. Scrape all that deliciousness into the pot.
• Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat. 
• Stir and season with more salt, if required. 
• Add and stir in parsley a couple minutes before turning off heat and serving.   

The soup will be ready to serve once the flavour and the aroma of it puts a smile on your face. The chickpeas shouldn't be too mushy. 

Taste the soup with a clean spoon and add more seasoning until you are satisfied.  There should be a deep richness of chicken flavour, herbs and seasoning.  

Enjoy!