Magickally Delicious Chicken Foot Soup

Here in the Bay Area, October has some of the hottest days of the year.  We’re used to it being 90° one day and 60° the next.  A friend calls this “lost sweater weather” because you head out dressed warmly and shed clothes during the day which you then can’t find the next day 🙂  Actually, it’s like that a lot around here.

I am one of those people who haz a SAD when the weather begins to change.  I can feel my mood shift with the shortening days.  Inconvenient sometimes, but there it is. One thing that makes me feel better is cooking something complicated.  “Making” of all sorts can help.

This week, we’ve had some cloudy and cool days and true to form, I felt my energy slowing way down.  It was almost cold in the house.  Perfect for making something that cooks all day.

So yesterday, I made chicken foot soup.  It’s really good for this time of year for a few reasons:  it’s crazy delicious, super good for you, and chicken feet look very zombie-like when they’re cooked.  Happy Samhain!

Let me preface this recipe by saying that a large factor in making this soup was that I had a lot of greens of different varieties and a pound of mushrooms that needed to get used up right away or they’d go bad.  I also had about 3 cups of chopped celery and green onions in the fridge and a cup or so of diced carrots.  That’s why this soup turned out like this.  The recipe is very forgiving 🙂

Here’s what ya need:

About 12 chicken feet.  (I got mine from my chickens, but you can sometimes find them at your local grocer, especially if they have a good butcher counter.  Make sure they’re cleaned and ‘peeled’ and cut off the talon end of the toe.)

A couple of cups of chopped celery and green onions

A cup of diced carrots

2 tbs salt

Pinch of marjoram

25 black peppercorns

4 tbs butter

2 tbs minced garlic

2# boneless chicken thigh meat (sliced or cubed) (could use breast too, or other meat)

1# mushrooms, sliced thick

A few splashes of Bragg’s Amino Acids

Several large handfuls of greens (beet tops, chard, kale, or other)

2 tbs apple cider vinegar

Here’s how ya do:

Put the chicken feet, celery, green onions, and carrots in a big slow cooker (6 or 7 quart).

Add water to cover and salt, marjoram and peppercorns.

Turn the cooker on high.  Once it heats up, turn in down to low and let it cook for a couple of hours.

About 30 minutes before you want to serve, put butter and minced garlic in a saucepan and saute for a few minutes.

Add chicken meat to pan and cook through, 5 minutes or so, splashing liberally with Bragg’s.

Remove the chicken meat to the slow cooker.

Add mushrooms to the saucepan and cook through til they start giving out their juice (again with the Bragg’s).

Remove ‘shrooms to the slow cooker.

Add chopped greens to the slow cooker and stir in.

Cook for about 15 minutes or so, til the greens just soften.

Add the vinegar.  Taste.  Add more if ya like it!

To serve, you can leave the feet in, if you like the effect.  They’re good to suck the meat off of, but can be a little slimy.  Some folks like them, some don’t.  If you don’t like them, take them out before serving.  They’ve given their all to your meal and now it is magically delicious!  The richness of the flavor is amazing and wonderful.

Enjoy!