Mr Arabella Cooks doesn’t consider soup to be substantial enough for his evening meal. He makes an exception however, when I make this chicken soup. I hate wasted food and when we’ve had a roast chicken at the weekend I always make stock from the carcass, and with the leftover meat either sandwiches, fajitas, or this delicious chicken soup. What makes it substantial enough to meet Mr AC’s needs is a large amount of veg and some teeny weeny pasta stars from the Heinz baby weaning range. They add texture and bulk but their teeniness means they’re still delicate and don’t overpower the soup as I find anything larger pasta-wise is apt to do. I’ve tried to find another brand of pasta that’s as small as the Heinz baby stuff but so far without success, so whenever I see it in a supermarket I tend to bulk buy it.

I don’t know if chicken soup can cure colds, but winter is nearly upon us and this version will nevertheless fill you with warmth and cheer you up enormously upon eating. I like it best with several slices of cheap, sliced white bread, spread thick with salty butter. Yum!

Recipe (makes roughly enough to serve 3 or 4 people):

For the stock:

• A chicken carcass (leftover from your Sunday roast)
• 2 or 3 carrots (I often bung in the ones that have gone a bit flabby to use them up)
• 2 onions
• 10 black peppercorns
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 2 parsnips
• A leek
• One Kallo organic chicken stock cube

For the soup:

• The meat from the chicken carcass, chopped into chunks. (If there was hardly anything left use a fresh free range chicken breast)
• A packet of Heinz baby pasta stars
• A carrot, peeled and diced into small squares
• A leek, finely sliced

Method:

1. Make the stock:
   1. Place the chicken carcass, roughly chopped carrots and parsnips (John Torode recommends peeling the carrots and parsnips as the skin makes the stock bitter but I don’t usually bother), the leek (cut into thirds), onion (leave the skin on as long as it’s clean, but cut it into quarters), peppercorns and bay leaves into a large stockpot.
   2. Cover with cold water.
   3. Bring to the boil; skim off any scum that forms on the surface (this is necessary as the scum definitely will make your soup taste bitter).
   4. Add the Kallo stock cube.
   5. Boil for about an hour or until reduced slightly and cloudy in colour with a good flavour of chicken when tasted.
   6. Strain the stock into a large clean pan (don’t empty it over the sink as I have done in the past. This is liquid you need to keep!
2. Place the pan of stock on the hob. Add the veg and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pasta stars [I haven’t given a quantity here as I usually do it by eye; I would say about 2 tablespoonfuls is plenty] and chicken and simmer for another 3-5 minutes until the pasta is soft. [If using a fresh chicken breast, chop it into chunks and add it before the veg; once it’s opaque and cooked through add the veg and then the pasta].
3. Add a few twists of black pepper then taste and add salt if it needs it. Serve with bread and butter. Delish!