German Style Chicken Soup with Spaetzle

I'm really quite proud of this soup.  Not because it's particularly difficult to make or requires intricate processes, but because it means I have made the most of a plump chicken.  It always pains me terribly to throw away the carcass of a roast chicken, as - in the days before I had room in my freezer for chicken stock - I very often had to. 

To start at the beginning, we had a good old traditional roast chicken for our Sunday dinner and quite apart from the three roast dinners it made, there was leftover breast meat, plus the leftover little taggy bits of meat (which are destined to be divided between a ramen noodle lunch and a chicken sandwich) and of course, the skeletal remains of the carcass.  So, feeling all worthy and ambitious, I included a chicken noodle soup for the following day.

I see so many gorgeous looking chicken soups, made from scratch, go past on various Facebook groups that I really felt I was missing out - and the blog was missing out - on not having a great chicken soup recipe.  Well, this evening fixed that one!

Yes, it is a bit of work, but with my trusty pressure cooker I was able to make the stock for the soup in a fraction of the time it would have taken without it - and without giving myself nightmares that always happens when I make stock using the slow cooker and leave it on overnight.  True, the pressure cooker does scare me but in years of using them only one has ever blown up (when I was living on the boat.  It blew the valve and painted the inside of the wheelhouse with boiling linseed that I was cooking for my horses' tea.  I had to put up an umbrella to go turn the burner off and rescue us) and nowadays they have inbuilt mechanisms that make them considerably safer to use.

Once the stock is made, cooled and de-greased, it is a simple matter of a bit of chopping and a-peeling, then simply chucking stuff into the saucepan and watching it cook.  Oh and tasting it get better and better, of course.

The spaetzle, I have to admit, came from Lidl.  Yes, I know people are going to tell me that it's so much nicer/tastier if you make your own, but I was curious about this dried egg spaetzle, okay?  As it turned out, it went superbly in this soup and provided the substance that otherwise would have been lacking.  Took FOR EVER to cook though - so bear that in mind if you get a similar product.  Their 10-11 minutes was closer to an actual 15-20.

I served the soup with simple buttered crusty bread rolls and it was perfect.  I consider us to now be immune to all cold and flu viruses for at least the next month, as this kind of soup is very well known to cure all known ills.  I'll have to spread a spoonful across the bank statement and see if it can cure the bank balance.  *wink*

Now as far as Cook's Tips go, I really only have one which is more of a warning than a tip.  For all that the making of the stock from a roast chicken carcass is time consuming and a tiny bit gross (to some people, I didn't find it so), it really is worth it.  A stock cube is a supremely useful thing, but it can't take the place of this liquid gold.  As I did, you can always add commercially produced stock to increase the liquid content, but you won't be able to find the depth of sheer chicken flavour - not even from the very best commercially produced chicken stock.  So go that extra mile and make the most of your roast chicken carcass.  You'll be so glad you did!

GERMAN STYLE CHICKEN SOUP WITH SPAETZLE   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

For the stock

A roast chicken carcass, stripped of all useful meat but including all the ghastly bits you would normally throw away : skin, fat, gristle, bones - the lot
2 carrots, peeled if they're a bit gnarly or dirty, sliced into chunks
1 large brown onion, peeled and quartered
1 garlic clove, peeled but left whole
2 large celery sticks, cleaned and with feathery leaves left on, sliced into chunks
1 large handful of fresh parsley, stalks included
half a tsp of dried thyme
a pinch of sea salt
half a tsp of ground black pepper
1 tsp of vegetable stock powder, dissolved into 1 litre of hot water.

For the soup

1 litre of home made chicken stock
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
2 celery sticks, de-strung and chopped into similar size pieces as the carrot & potato
1 small parsnip, peeled and diced
2 tsp good low salt chicken stock powder (to taste - you may require less or more)
500ml hot water
half a tsp of ground black pepper
two fistfuls of dried Spaetzle
a good handful of petit pois
1 tbsp plain flour, mixed into 50ml warm water
150g minimum of roast chicken meat, chopped into bite sized pieces
chopped fresh parsley, for garnish.

Method :

To make the chicken stock, place all the ingredients into a pressure cooker and give it all a quick stir.  Fix on the lid and place over the heat to come up to pressure.  Cook at medium pressure for 20 minutes, then de-pressurise and remove the lid.

The stock can also be made, using the same ingredients, by cooking for a minimum of 8 hours in a slow cooker, or the good old fashioned way of simmering it all in a huge pan on the stove top, for as long as you can bear it.  Just remember to keep an eye on the liquid level if you opt for this method.

Drain the liquid through a sieve over a large bowl or jug (don't make the schoolboy error of forgetting to catch the stock!) and set aside to cool.  You should have at least a litre of stock.  The solids can all be discarded once cool.

Once the stock is cool, you will find that the fat has accumulated on the top.  Skim the fat off using a spoon - you don't have to be exact, just get rid of the worst of it.  The stock is now ready to make soup with.

Pour your stock into a large soup saucepan and add the carrots.  Bring the contents up to the boil, then reduce to a lively simmer and cook for some 3-4 minutes.

Add the potato, celery, parsnip, chicken stock powder (how much depends on how strong your stock flavour is) and the additional hot water and black pepper.  Stir everything in well and bring back up to a lively simmer.  Cook until the carrots are tender.

Using a potato masher, break up some of the vegetable pieces, leaving the majority intact.  Taste for chickeniness (if it's a bit pale in flavour you can either leave the lid off and reduce the soup, taking care to leave enough to feed everyone, or add a little more chicken stock powder - but remember that the chicken meat has to be added yet) and for pepper and salt.  This is when you find yourself very happy you were using a low salt stock powder!

Add the spaetzle to the soup and continue to cook at a lively simmer until the noodles are al dente.

Add the petit pois and the flour slurry, making sure to stir it in very well.  This will thicken the soup.  If you would like the soup to be thicker, simply add more flour slurry but take care to cook the rawness out of the flour.

When you are happy with the texture of your soup and the noodles are soft, add the chicken meat and heat through well.  Once the soup has returned to a lively simmer, remove from the heat and serve into warmed bowls.  Add a good sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley to each bowl as garnish and serve with warm crusty bread.

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Beef, ale & cheese soup - hearty flavours!

Are you, like I was, looking at the concept of a soup containing beef, ale (beer) and cheese and thinking "erm .. well how does that work, then?".  If so, then it works very well, surprisingly well in fact.

I'd seen various incarnations of this idea appearing on recipe sharing websites for a while and have to admit that I'd thought it was just one of those fads that occurs from time to time.  Like cheese stuffed meatloaf, prosciutto wrapped chicken breasts and cakes decorated with maltesers.  You know the sort of thing - not something that's going to last, a bit of a fashion thing - a flash in the proverbial pan.

However, I'm not sure if it was familiarity with seeing it turn up so regularly or just sheer curiosity that did it, but whatever it was - I succumbed, tried it out and it works.

Now you'll know that I'm rarely keen on a recipe that involves lots of procedures, lots of ingredients (well, except maybe for curries) and lots of faffing about.  You'll also know that my hubby isn't keen on "bouncy meat" and any type of beef requires a long, relaxing bath in the slow cooker in order for it to gain the thumbs up.

So when I began seriously considering how to make this warming wintery gem, I started from those two standpoints - simple and slow cooker.

Now it's soup we're talking about here - not stew.  So I had to choose a liquid base that would be interesting enough in flavour to be there in quantity plus also able to withstand a long cooking time.  Now obviously, beef stock would have done the job on at least one of those counts.  However, I didn't want the soup to be too weighted to one ingredient or the other.  I was after an amalgous whole.  An affinity between ingredients.  I also didn't want it to be too "gravy" flavoured.  Too much of a "gravy" flavour would be too stew-like.

Tomato passata was out, as it took everything down too much of an Italian route.  Creaminess was out, too.  Nobody wants a beef soup that is creamed.

Inevitably, the ole grey cells turned to alcohol.  After all, I'd done a fair few "in cider" dishes and knew that they worked.  I'd also cooked with ale a few times and knew what a lovely savoury end result you wind up with.  Yes, that was the thing - a light ale.  After all, beer and cheese were made to go together.  Light enough to still be there in the flavour profile, but without dominating either the beef or the cheese.

I knew that building up the flavour in layers is often the way to go - so what vegetable matter to put in there.  Some for flavour, some for texture, some for thickening.  Onion was a given and it would have to be fried so as to avoid that horrible raw onion flavour overpowering everything.  Celery is a good one, but no carrots, not this time.  I didn't want it to be a stew, remember?  Garlic always helps savouriness along, so that was a definite.  As for herbage, I was torn between parsley, thyme and oregano.  Son and heir had complained recently about everything having parsley in it, so I restrained myself to providing a mere sprinkling of parsley as garnish and decided to go with thyme.  Well, oregano was going too far down the Italian/pizza flavour route again.  I had declared myself done with thyme just recently, as it seemed to go in everything and I had got distinctly fed up with it.  However, there was just no alternative - and it went very well.

I was a little bit worried that a lot of these flavours were "top end" and there was nothing really backing up the garlic and beef at the "lower end" of the flavour spectrum, until I remembered I had a few mushrooms.  Perfect.

Now potato was a given as it tends to disintegrate and act as a thickener.  I needed something else though, something that had inherent sweetness that would counteract the bitter, hoppy flavour of the ale.  There in my veggie drawer of the fridge, was sat a half a butternut squash.  Again, perfect.  I peeled it, cut it into cubes and in it went, providing colour, beta carotene and the desired amount of sweetness.

With the combination of mature Cheddar's tangy, salty flavours and the Red Leicester's softer tones, the cheese was relatively easy to pin down.  I felt they both worked very well, although perhaps a medium matured Cheddar might have been better for my palate.  If you can cope with the big flavours of a tangy, salty, matured cheddar then go ahead with it, if you're a bit wobbly about cheese, I'd recommend a medium matured Cheddar.  Just don't reduce the quantity, as it makes a huge difference to the texture of the soup.

Now, what Cook's Tips can I offer you?  Well, apart from the type of Cheddar used (as above), I really don't think the type of beef that you use matters all that much.  Quite obviously, you wouldn't want to be using rump steak, nor a sirloin roast.  However any of your stewing, casserole, braising types from brisket right down to good old shin, would work.  Just adjust the cooking time to suit.  I used a stewing type of beef that had already been diced - not my favourite type of beef to use, but we were fortunate in that it turned out to be just perfect for the job.  I suspect it was probably a combination of shin with a bit of braising steak mixed in, as there were two very different textures of meat in there.  However, I'd use it again as it was really good.  It had around 8 or 9 hours in total on high and was absolutely as soft as butter and completely delicious.

I served the soup with some lovely sourdough, rustic bread from our local Patisserie Mark Bennett bakery.  You need bread with some "oomph" alongside the soup, but if you haven't got it don't worry.  The soup is the star!

BEEF, ALE & CHEESE SOUP   (serves 4)

Ingredients :

3 tbsp plain flour
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
750g braising or stewing beef - I used shin - trimmed of fat and cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped small
2 stalks of celery, chopped small
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1 large garlic clove, crushed and chopped finely
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into cubes
half a butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cut into cubes
half a teaspoonful of dried thyme
500ml bottle of light ale beer
500ml cold water
a teaspoonful of low salt veal or beef stock powder (or a low salt stock cube)
100ml single cream
200g grated cheese - I used 50/50 Cheddar and Red Leicester
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley, for garnish.

Method :

1.  Place the flour and a pinch of sea salt and half a teaspoonful of black pepper into a large plastic bag and toss to combine.

2.  Add the cubes of beef and toss well to coat the meat.

3.  Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan on a high heat, then place in handfuls of the beef to sear.  Take care to not overcrowd the pan, which will lower the temperature and so cause the beef to stew instead of sear.

4.  As the beef sears, remove it with a slotted spoon to the slow cooker and continue to sear the next batch until all the beef is done.

5.  Add the onion, celery, mushrooms and garlic to the pan - you may need a little more oil - and reduce the temperature.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and coloured a little.  Decant into the slow cooker and turn it on to Low.

6.  Add the potato, butternut squash and thyme to the slow cooker, stir to combine and replace the lid.

7.  Pour the light ale into the frying pan and add the stock powder, plus 500ml of water.  Stir to combine, making sure to deglaze the pan and heat until simmering point, whereupon you can add the contents of the pan to the slow cooker, turn the heat to High and replacing the lid.

8.  Cook for a minimum of 6 hours on High and a maximum of 8 on Low - or until the beef is tender and the vegetables are cooked.

9.  Remove the slow cooker's lid and stir in the cream and the grated cheese until the cheese has melted.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

10.  Serve into warmed bowls, adding a sprinkle of fresh parsley to garnish and crusty bread for dipping.

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Tonight's Dinner : An oldie - Slow Cooker Split Pea & Ham Soup

Well.  I don't think that was half bad.  We bought the gammon join for Sunday's dinner (remember?  Gammon with Piedmontese Peppers?) then we had Ham Egg & Chips last night and this evening, we finished off the £7.50 piece of gammon with a home made Split Pea and Ham Soup.  Roughly £2.50 per meal over the three days for the meat content.  Very nice too.

 

The soup was an absolute dream to make, it was so easy.  I didn't follow anyone's recipe in particular, but read several different recipes (not all of which were for Pea and Ham soup!) for inspiration and just winged it after that.  What made it so easy was the use of my slow cooker (or crockpot) - although if you don't have one of these paragons, you can easily make the same soup on the cooker top in less time with a little more stirring and watching of liquid levels.

I used my favourite Essential Cuisine stock - 1 tsp vegetable stock powder and 1.5 tsp veal stock powder in 1 litre of water.  Now Essential Cuisine stock is naturally low in salt, but if you decide to use stock cubes - do beware of the salt content and definitely use a low salt version.

Hubby declared it to be "proper gorgeous, proper delicious", which I take to be high praise.  Son and heir decided it was a little too salty for his taste (which was odd, as I hadn't used any salt at all!).  I thought it was quite the nicest pea and ham soup I'd had in a very long while.  We ate it with some nice Cheese & Pickle crusty bread from Asda.

SLOW COOKER SPLIT PEA & HAM SOUP  (serves 3)

Ingredients :

1 onion, chopped finely
2 sticks of celery and a few celery leaves, chopped finely
2 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthways and sliced thinly
1 medium potato, diced finely
2 rashers of back bacon, diced finely
1 tbsp of finely chopped fresh parsley
2-3 bay leaves
1 litre very hot stock of your choice (see note above)
250g dried, unsoaked, yellow split peas
freshly ground black pepper
a large knob of butter
6 slices of ham leftover from a gammon joint, cut into fine shreds.

Method : 

1.  Place all the ingredients except the pepper and the butter into the slow cooker and stir to combine.

2.  Turn the slow cooker to High and cook for 5 hours, or Medium and cook for 6-7 hours.

3.  Half way through the cooking time, remove the lid and give the contents a stir.

4.  Add a good pinch of black pepper and stir through, then replace the lid.

5.  At the end of the cooking time, mash the contents roughly with a potato masher.  Do not use a blender, as it will turn your soup into a puree.

6.  Add the shredded ham and stir through.

7.  Remove any bay leaves you can find and add the butter.  Allow it to melt and stir it through, then taste for seasoning and add more freshly ground black pepper if necessary.

Serve, with a little of the shredded ham and some freshly ground black pepper on top for garnish and crusty bread for dipping.

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Curried Vegetable Soup - a lovely winter warmer

We decided, quite recently, to try and have a vegetarian night every so often.  Not so often as weekly, but fairly regularly all the same.  When a vegetarian recipe strikes me as being right for our tastes - that sort of thing.

So, when I saw the recipe for this Curried Vegetable Soup as I was looking for a main course soup, I didn't immediately consider whether to put some chicken in it!

Any vegetarian recipe has to have some kind of "oomph!" for me to consider it for the family.  We are all such confirmed meat eaters that some of the lighter bites that seem to be on offer as vegetarian fare just aren't man enough for us.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of point in having dinner, then finding the menfolk scouring the kitchen cupboards for something to eat just half an hour later.  Seems a poor use of resources, to me!

This is one of the reasons why some of the salad recipes just aren't any good for us.  I'd have to put a whacking great jacket potato with it, just to stop the snacking that would go on later in the evening.  Not that there's anything wrong with a jacket potato per se, it's just that it would probably kill the delicacy of a tender young salad with scallops, for instance.

Yes, we're definitely in the market for manly, hearty vegetarian food.

Food like this Curried Vegetable Soup, for instance.  With its use of butternut squash, carrots and celeriac, you have all your vegetable goodness along with protein from the lentils, warm curry spices to keep the palate interested and lovely coconut milk to give the impression of dairy creaminess.  I also used some of the lovely vegetable stock powder from Essential Cuisine, as their stocks are not only beautifully flavoured but low in salt, too.

I was surprised, when it came to making the soup, that the instructions didn't start with "put the onion pieces into the pan".  For once, especially where a recipe involving curry spices is concerned, there is no onion involved!  It makes a pleasant change.

Now hubby is a man who very definitely - in the ordinary course of events - does not like lentils.  However, this is one of the very few ways in which he will accept red lentils - much like cauliflower.  In this instance, the lentils just melt away as they cook and give the soup some great substance.  With the final go round from the blender, even though I kept some of the vegetables back for added texture, he was perfectly happy to accept lentils.

There's just something about curry spices and red lentils that go so well.  They really are a match made in heaven - and I was pretty sure I'd get away with using them.

I served the soup with some ready made flatbreads from our local Asda.  These flatbreads are "Coronation" flavour, so think Coronation Chicken.  They have some gentle curry flavours, along with coconut and sultanas - and are just perfect for dipping into this soup.

To be honest, I think just about anything (except maybe a marshmallow - euk!) would be great to eat alongside this soup.  You could go down the Indian route and serve onion bhajees, or hunks of warm crusty farmhouse bread and butter for the more traditional route.  Either way, I know the cockles of your heart will be thoroughly warmed.  You can't ask for more than that!

CURRIED VEGETABLE SOUP   (serves 4-5)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and diced small
200g carrots, peeled and diced small
a quarter of a celeriac, peeled and diced small
1 tbsp curry powder
half a tsp turmeric
100g red lentils
700ml vegetable stock (I used Essential Cuisine Vegetable Stock powder)
400ml tin coconut milk
a handful of green peas, defrosted if frozen
2-3 sprigs of fresh coriander, chopped plus some for garnish.

Method :

1.  Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the squash, carrots and celeriac.  Cook until the vegetables are beginning to brown and soften a little, then stir in the curry powder and cook for 1 minute more.

2.  Add the turmeric, lentils, stock and coconut milk and bring up to a low boil.

3.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the lentils are cooked.

4.  Remove a few ladlefuls of the vegetables to a jug.  Add the chopped coriander to the remainder of the soup and using a hand blender, blitz the soup to your preferred consistency.  Add the vegetables back in and include the peas.

5.  Bring back up to heat and continue to simmer until the peas are cooked - around 2-3 minutes.

Serve.

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Recipe development in action : Smoked Haddock Chowder

It had been some months since I last cooked my Smoked Haddock Chowder.  Now I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'd forgotten how to do it, but I definitely needed to have a look at the recipe on Rhubarb & Ginger here.

A quick squizz down the recipe reminded me of how it went, what the ingredients were and I was away.  Or so I thought.

It is amazing how, when you've been cooking something for long enough that you don't need the recipe to follow, how you can often develop that recipe just because you're not restricted by following the steps!

I suddenly found myself creating what was the same soup, but in a significantly quicker and less involved way - and without the butter!  All of which resulted in a slightly healthier, delicious end product with no adverse effects from the new method.

I also left out the frozen peas, as I felt that they added a certain amount of unwanted water to the mix.

So, in order that I don't forget what I did (which is always possible) and to pass on to you this new, quicker, way of creating what has become a family favourite - here's how it goes!

January 2019 and here's the latest incarnation of this recipe.  Yum.

SMOKED HADDOCK CHOWDER  (serves 4)

Ingredients :

a small glug of rapeseed oil
3 rashers of streaky bacon, fat removed as much as possible and chopped finely
1 onion, finely chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
1 leek, quartered, then sliced finely
2 pints full cream milk
200ml fish stock (I used Essential Cuisine fish stock powder, mixed with hot water)
a generous pinch of cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tbsp plain flour
140g tin of sweetcorn
500g smoked haddock fillets, skin removed and cut into large chunks
sea salt to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley.

Method :

In a large, deep saucepan, gently heat the rapeseed oil and add the bacon pieces.  Fry until the bacon is cooked through, but not crispy.

Add the onion and potato and continue to fry until the onion is transparent and the potato is beginning to take on colour.

Add the leeks and continue to cook until softened.

Place the flour into a small bowl and wet it down with as little of the milk as it takes to achieve a wet, lump-free paste.

To the pan, add the stock, cover the pan and bring to a lively simmer.  Cook on until the potato is cooked through and the leek is tender.  Add almost all the remainder of the milk (leave around 2-300ml), the cayenne and black peppers plus the sweetcorn.  Before heating through, add the flour paste and stir through.

Increase the heat under the pan and, continuing to stir, heat until the soup has thickened significantly and is simmering nicely.  You can add a little more milk as the soup thickens, if you feel it is required.  You can't leave the soup from this stage, without removing it from the heat, or you'll find it stick and burn at the bottom of the pan.  So watch it like a hawk and stir, stir, stir!

Once the soup is the consistency you want, taste for seasoning (remembering that the fish will add salt) and adjust if necessary.

Stir through one tablespoonful of the chopped parsley and add the chunks of fish.  Reduce the heat to a minimum.  From henceforth in, stir very gently, so as not to break the fish too badly.  Allow to cook for another 3-4 minutes and test your fish chunks.  Once they fall apart and are done, you are ready to serve.

Sprinkle each bowlful with a little of the remaining parsley and serve with warm crusty buttered rolls.

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Minestrone? No! It's Chickarone Soup!

Well, what else would you call a minestrone-type soup, but one that contains chicken?  It's just got to be Chickarone!

This soup recipe evolved from the BBC Good Food recipe for their Hearty Pasta Soup.  I'd been intending to make some of that - on and off - for months now.  

Twice (at least) I've put it on the menu plan for the week, only to have it bounced off in favour of some other plan.  The last time I included it, I bought the filled pasta, it got bounced off the menu list, so I ate the pasta for lunch over the weekend.

Then I (pretty much) gave up on trying to make it.

So when I was considering what leftovers we'd got that needed using up and began to contemplate how I could use two chicken breasts without having to buy any more meat to go with them, the Pasta Soup reared its poor old rejected head.

I had a secret theory that the reason why I'd never made the soup was because of the filled pasta.  I know that some members of the family aren't terribly keen on filled pasta as they - quite rightly, in lots of cases - say that it's bland and flavourless.  However, what if I used just ordinary small pasta (unfilled) and put some diced chicken breast in the soup?  That might make it a bit more interesting.

So that was how the idea first occurred.  The recipe, however, sort of grew in the making.

I was nervous about the degree of flavour that could be achieved by the inclusion of just vegetable stock and a tin of tomatoes, knowing how my family likes to have big flavours in their food and aren't keen on "broth" style soups.  It was obvious that as the chicken stewed and the vegetables cooked, the soup base would develop in flavour - but I just helped it along a little bit with the addition of two heaped teaspoonfuls of tomato puree and some mushroom ketchup.  I'd also made the addition of a stick of celery, a chopped leek, a tin of sweetcorn niblets, some fine green beans and, just before the end, stirred some green pesto through the soup.  (Which took care of the last of the pesto!).

I was surprised by how much salt the soup ate up, too.  Because the vegetable bouillon I used was low salt, I suspect that had as much to do with it as anything - although the use of spaghetti demands a good dose of salt, in order to bring out the flavour.  My anxiety over the soup base was put to rest by the starch from the spaghetti helping to thicken the base.  Ultimately, the soup came together just perfectly - and I felt was pretty well balanced as I could almost taste all the individual components.  The chicken was there in texture and visible, but lost out a little in flavour.  I suspect what I should have done, was use chicken stock instead of vegetable, which would have helped the chicken along a little.  Hubby felt that the broccoli stamped all over the other flavours and for him, the prevalent flavour was broccoli.  Son and heir ate all his soup without comment, so I guess he liked it!

I served the soup with some Cheesy Pesto Pitta dippers, which were Pitta bread spread with pesto, then cut into four pieces and laid onto a baking tray.  Grate a liberal coating of cheddar cheese over them and place into a hot oven for 10-20 minutes to crisp and heat through.  The pesto was a great addition to these dippers - and one that I'll certainly do again.  To be honest, you could whip up a plate of these if you're planning on watching a film at home, or have friends around for drinks.  Perfect!

CHICKARONE SOUP    Serves 4

Ingredients :

1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped fine
1 stick of celery, diced super-fine
1 leek, sliced finely
2 chicken breasts, diced small 
2 carrots, peeled & sliced finely
1 litre chicken stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 heaped tsp tomato puree
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup (or Worcestershire sauce)
a small tin of sweetcorn niblets
a small handful of fine green beans, topped, tailed & cut into half inch pieces
100g spaghetti, broken into approx. one inch pieces
a small handful of tiny broccoli florets
2 tsp green pesto.

Method :

1.  In a deep, heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the red onion and celery.  Cook over a medium heat until the onion is transparent but not browned.


2.  Add the leek and continue to cook, reducing the heat if necessary so as not to brown the delicate leek pieces, for another 5 minutes or so or until the leek appears to have softened.


3.  Add the chicken breast pieces and over an increased heat, cook until each piece has changed colour to white.

4.  Add the carrots and cook to heat through, then add the chicken stock, tomatoes, tomato puree, mushroom ketchup (or Worcestershire sauce) and the sweetcorn niblets.

5.  Stir well bring to a lively simmer for 10 minutes, or until the carrot is approximately half way cooked.

6.  Add the green beans and spaghetti and stir well.  Continue to cook at a lively simmer for another 6 minutes.


7.  Add the broccoli florets and continue to simmer until the spaghetti is tender and the broccoli is cooked.

8.  Stir through the pesto and serve in warmed bowls with bread to dip.

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Corn Chowder main-course soup style!

I think that sweetcorn (or corn-on-the-cob) has to be right up there on my list of favourite vegetables.  I love it in all its forms, even as polenta.  I used to make cornbread, up until it dawned on me how fattening it was, but a home-made chilli with cornbread was one of life's little pleasures for a while there.

One of our regular family favourite soups is the Smoked Haddock Chowder, which contains sweetcorn.  From there, it was a short step to finding a great recipe for corn chowder.  I found just the thing, by accident, on www.fresh365online.com.  The recipe contained potatoes, sour cream and most interestingly, a cupful of cheddar cheese.  I liked the idea of how that sounded as a recipe, but felt in order to turn it into a main course soup, it needed the addition of some meat - smoked bacon, to be specific.  I felt the bacon would "butch" up the soup, plus add a lovely smokey flavour.

Well, I wasn't wrong as although the sour cream and cheese help provide depth, the bacon just makes all the difference to how hearty the soup feels.

Do be careful though, not to use corn at the end of the season.  I have had corn cobs that have absolutely refused to cook so, if you decide to make this recipe out of corn season, my advice is to go for frozen corn.  It takes a twinkling to cook and the flavour really isn't that different.

CORN CHOWDER  (feeds 4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 pack (250g) streaky bacon, diced small
1 garlic clove, grated
1 onion, chopped
half a tsp of cayenne pepper
2 medium potatoes, diced small
500ml vegetable stock
5 cobs (kernels removed) of fresh corn or 800g of frozen corn
150g sour cream
a large handful of cheddar cheese, grated
black pepper to taste
2 spring onions, chopped fine for garnish
red chilli infused oil, for garnish.

Method :

In a large saucepan and over a moderate heat, add the oil and once hot add the onions and garlic.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, until the onions have softened but not gained any colour.

Add the chopped bacon and fry until the bacon is opaque and some of the fat has rendered.

Stir in the cayenne and potatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring often.

Add the vegetable stock and taste for seasoning.  Add salt if necessary - I didn't need to, as the bacon and stock meant the mix was quite salty enough.  Add the corn and bring to a lively simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the corn is tender.

Stir in the sour cream and cheddar cheese and cook for another few minutes, to ensure it has all melted and been combined.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, adding some black pepper if you like.

Serve in warmed bowls with a sprinkle of spring onions and a swoosh or two of chilli oil over the top.

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