I saw a package of these pasta shapes in the supermarket and had to have them so I could make soup with them. There are bunnies, bears, bicycles, and busses.
I appropriated a stewing hen from the commercial freezer before they were all sold out. This is either a tough old rooster or a laying hen that we raised on the farm. It's a small bird (about 3 lbs.) with very little meat.
I added frozen bits that I'd saved over the summer when we brought too much back from farmer's market: onions, roasted garlic, shiitake stems, carrots and celery (leftover crudites from a party). There are also wing tips from a fresh chicken, 2 bay leaves, and the skin from a smoked chicken breast. The pot was brought to a boil.
I covered the pot and put it in a 300f oven for 8 hours. I wish there was scratch and sniff Internet because this smells fantastic. As you can see, the meat has come off the bones. The entire carcass has fallen apart. I salted the stock to taste (about 1/2 TB) and let it cool.
I brought four cups of the strained, defatted stock and the shredded meat that Dan hadn't eaten back to a simmer, and added thinly sliced carrots and a handful of the dry pasta. After ten minutes, I covered the pot and turned the heat off.
Rich, intense, chickeny soup; all it needed was a little pepper. It's all about eating the screaming rabbits for me!
