Made some chicken soup last night, kinda bland

[BigChops]

Need some advice.

First I put a whole chicken in a pot, filled it up with water, 2 bay leaves, 2 crushed garlic cloves, salt and pepper, and some basil and parsley.

Boiled/simmered if for about 30 minutes until it was done all the way through. Tooke the chicken out, removed all the meat from the bones and threw it back in the pot.

Cut up celery, onions, and jicama, and added them to the pot, along with some white wine and a few more spices I think.

Simmered for about an hour or so, until it smelled nice and done.

It was good, but it tasted kind of watered down. I think my water to chicken ratio was a little off. Should I try adding more chicken and maybe some bullion(sp?) and cooking it some more?

[Naja]

Salt can enhance the flavor remarkably. Also, longer cooking and letting the water evaporate until you have about 2 to 3 cups total volume from one chicken reduction.

I remove the meat when it's just done (the breast first, the legs later) and leave the flavoring vegetables plus all the bones, all the giblets except the liver, the back meat and the wings (or maybe just the wing tips) in the pot for a few more hours to simmer down until everything is falling apart. Then I run it through a strainer, toss all the solids and have a nice soup. The meat left in the pot won't be very good after this length of boiling, which is why I pull the legs, thighs and breasts early on for the meat.

If you're using jicama I'd also pull it early as it won't add anything to the soup as a "sacrifice" and you probably want to eat it. I would leave some celery tops in, and of course some onions.