Meat mains
Chicken and summer vegetable soup
A truly reviving soup with lots of good things working well together in the bowl. Vegetarians could try substituting the chicken for tofu and stirring in some cream or crème fraîche to finish in order to give the soup some more body.
Cook's notes
Poaching the chicken in the stock will give an incredibly delicate flavour in this dish, so the soup will suffer if your vegetables and herbs that aren't very fresh. Try using the freshest ingredients you can get your hands on and the soup and your taste buds will thank you for it.
Ingredients
- 1-2 litres vegetable stock
- 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- small bunch fresh parsley, leaves chopped and stalks reserved
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 thyme sprigs or 1 rosemary sprig
- 300-500g chicken, evenly diced
- 350g new potatoes, cut into large bite-sized pieces
- 4 carrots, halved lengthways and cut into 2cm batons
- 3 courgettes, halved lengthways and cut into 2cm pieces
- any other summer veg – runner or French bean, spinach, chard and peas all work well
- 3 tarragon sprigs, leaves chopped
- pinch nutmeg, grated
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Bring the stock to a simmer with half the garlic, the parsley stalks, bay leaf, thyme or rosemary.
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Step 2
Gently summer for 15 minutes, and then strain the stock into a bowl, discarding the flavourings.
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Step 3
Return the stock to the pan and add the chicken, potatoes, carrots and remaining garlic.
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Step 4
Simmer gently for 10 minutes and add the beans, leaves and courgettes.
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Step 5
Stir through the parsley and tarragon and add the nutmeg.
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Step 6
Season to taste and serve in large bowls with some warm, crusty bread.
