If you accumulate chicken stock in the freezer, often the stock may not be exceptional. But suppose it is?

Most soup recipes assume a bland chicken stock. In front of me is a recipe for Mulligatawney Soup using turnips, carrots, onions, celery, and apple, not to mention a proliferation of herbs and spices from bay leaf to mace.

If the stock itself is genuinely delicious, and you want to preserve its flavor, while still making a soup of some substance, try the following. Avoid the temptation to add such as potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, or ham, as these will alter the flavor, imposing their own characteristics.

Serve with biscuits for a complete meal.

Boil carrots until tender in the chicken stock. (Carrots will be best if cooked hours ahead or the day before so as to absorb flavor of the stock.)

10 minutes before serving, add cooked spinach. Spinach will disintegrate if added too far ahead. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper.

5 minutes before serving, add optional beans to heat through.

Variations

Perhaps surprisingly, cabbage or sliced cooked beets, singly or together, may be added without pre-empting the flavor of the broth. While carrots are cooking, cut cabbage in thin wedges and cook a few minutes in the broth. Remove to a side plate and return to reheat just before serving.

Serve with thick yogurt cream separately. This may be flavored with one of the usual suspects: garlic, orange juice, sherry, Calamata olives, garam masala, or pan-roasted cumin.

If your stock is not good enough, add some ham. If your stock is truly delicious, the ham is not needed, and in fact will not be noticed.

(Here is an advantage of the moist-baking method for chicken: a stock is always produced, and it might be highly flavored. The notion of this soup occurred 1/24/97 from a stock of chicken roasted with orange-pecan glaze, and also Rangoon chicken. The stock itself was so fragrant and delicious that we did not want to diminish it with distractions such as potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, or sausage. Nina made a large number of biscuits, and at last we had found a nearly meatless meal, by chance.)