Chicken Chowder, a meal in a soup. If you have left over chicken from a roast you could use that instead along with any left over vegetables and boil the carcass up to get some fabulous chicken stock. No quantities again I'm afraid, all done by eye.
INGREDIENTS
Chicken breasts
Milk
Onion
Potatoes
Leeks
Carrots
Tinned Sweetcorn
Tabasco
Butter
Plain flour
Chicken stock cube
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Double cream
Fresh parsley
WHAT YOU NEED
Lots of pans! A large deep sided frying pan, or a large pan. 3 further pans to cook the vegetables. A very large pan for the soup.
METHOD
Vegetables: First, peel and wash the potatoes, leeks and carrots.
Quarter the potatoes and place in a pan of salter cold water, bring to the boil and simmer until cooked.
Slice the carrots and place in a pan of salted cold water, bring to the boil and simmer until cooked.
Slice the leeks and place in a pan of salted cold water, bring to the boil and simmer until cooked.
With all the vegetables, don't overfill the pan with water, use just enough water to nearly cover the vegetables, this is because we want to use the liquid later and if there is too much water the flavour will be diluted. Alternatively you could always steam the vegetables.
Chicken: Whilst the vegetables are cooking you can start on the chicken. In a deep sided frying pan lay the chicken breasts, pour over some milk until nearly covered. Peel and quarter an onion and place that in the pan too. Put on a medium heat and poach the chicken in the milk until cooked, this won't take long and you will see the chicken change colour and texture, it will become firm to the touch. If you're not sure you can cut into the middle of one of the breasts, if there is any hint of pink in the flesh it is not cooked. Don't boil the milk or it will boil over so keep an eye on the pan.
Vegetables & Chicken: Keep an eye on everything. As each item becomes cooked remove it from the heat and drain. With the vegetables you want to reserve the vegetable water but keep the potato water separate as if you have to choose between which liquid you are going to use you want to use the potato water first as that has starch in it which will help to thicken the soup. Once cooked and cool enough to handle all the vegetables and chicken need to be chopped into smaller pieces: -
Potatoes: Cube the potatoes into bite size pieces
Carrots: Chop the carrots into quite small pieces
Leeks: The leeks will have probably have separated, just chop them a little more into bite size pieces
Chicken: Remove from the milk, reserving the liquid, and chop into bite size pieces
Place all the above onto a plate or in a bowl, ready to add to the soup later. Open and drain your tin of sweetcorn and chop the parsley.
Roux: A roux is always made from equal quantities of butter and flour ie 40g butter, 40g of flour to around half a pint of liquid. I never measure it and just do it by eye, a big spoon of butter and a couple of spoons of flour, you'll soon get the hang of it!
In the large pan which you have chosen for your soup you are now going to make a roux. Add the butter and melt. Once it has melted take if off the heat and add the plain flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the flour has been absorbed into the butter then put it back on the heat. Keep stirring and cook for a couple of minutes until 'blonde'. Add the reserved milk little by little, stirring the sauce against the side of the pan with the wooden spoon to break up any lumps, or you could use a whisk. Keep going until it is a sauce consistency, it should coat the back of your spoon. If you run out of milk start adding some of potato water. As you cook the sauce it will thicken, keep stirring, don't leave it!
Assembly: You now should have a white sauce and we are going to dilute that to soup consistency. Add some potato liquid, little by little until you are happy with the consistency of your soup, adding some of vegetable water if possible. Then add your seasonings, stock cube or seasoned sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, a couple of dashes of tabasco (used just as a flavour enhancer) and fresh parsley (reserving some for a garnish). Next add all your reserved chopped vegetables and chicken and finally add the sweetcorn. Taste to check your seasonings and add some more if necessary. Heat the soup through to make sure everything has heated through thoroughly and finally add some cream. Serve garnished with chopped fresh parsley and fresh crusty bread.
NB: As this soup has milk and chicken in it any leftovers need to be refrigerated. When you reheat make sure you heat it thoroughly to ensure all the ingredients are thoroughly reheated.
