Hearty Chicken Soup for Winter Nights
Ingredients
- 1kg boned chicken
- 2.5 pints of water
- 1 large onion
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 2 vegetable stock cubes
- 4 to 5 bay leaves
- 20 whole peppercorns
- 100g sliced leeks or celery
- 250g frozen baby carrots
- 2 large potatoes
- 1 to 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Preparation
Place chicken in a large stock pot along with water, onion, garlic cloves, vegetable stock cubes, bay leaves and peppercorns. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt at this stage only, you can add more later if needed. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes on the stove until the chicken is cooked. Skim off any foam or fat from the top while it cooks.
Remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and allow to cool, then shred by hand.
Add the remaining ingredients to the pot: sliced leeks, frozen baby carrots and potatoes, allow to simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until veggies are cooked. Add in the shredded chicken and remaining herbs, pepper and more salt (if needed) and simmer for a few more minutes.
Serve immediately and enjoy on its own or with crusty bread.
Tip: If you want to remove all the chicken fat, refrigerate the soup and once hard skim off the fat or allow the soup to cool a little and then throw in an ice cube, the fat will cling to the ice cube and you can remove it easily.
