"hey Nic, Add the Chicken!" Leek and Potato Soup

This started out life as just leek and potato soup, one of a plethora of soups in my husband's box of cheffy tricks. When I saw him about to just chuck the chicken frames into the bin after having made the stock I protested and told him to chip off the meat and put it back in the soup. He was a bit dubious but has now changed the recipe to include chicken!

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• 4  chicken carcasses
• 1  tablespoon salt
• 5 -6  bay leaves (to taste)
• 2 1⁄2 kg potatoes, washed, rough cut
• 1  large leek, washed, rough cut
•  salt, to taste
•  pepper, to taste

Directions

1. First you need some home-made chicken stock. Don't use store bought powder, it's NOT hard to make - I promise you this as a former kitchen assassin turned food-lover!
2. To make stock:.
3. Bring 3 L of water to a boil in a 4-6 L pot. (Needs to be big enough it won't spill over once all ingredients are added.).
4. Add the chicken frames, a good dash of salt (about 1 T give or take) and the bay leaves. You will add more salt later but this helps to extract the maximum flavor from the chicken.
5. Reduce heat to simmer for 1 hour covered, skimming occasionally. Do not simmer for too much longer than this or the bones start to decalcify and make the stock bitter flavoured.
6. In the meantime:.
7. Clean and rough chop 2.5 kg of potatos, set aside.
8. Clean and rough chop 1 large leek, set aside.
9. You're going to puree it all once it's nice and soft from cooking so don't obsess over getting perfect, small diced cubes (unless you're a chef and that's your thing -- ) you just want it chopped up enough so that they'll cook out nicely in the pot.
10. Back to the stock: your hour of simmering is done and VOILA -- you have stock! (Told you it was easy!)
11. Now remove the chicken frames, set aside.
12. Strain the stock so that you catch any fine bones that may have come loose while simmering.
13. Add the leek.
14. Add the potato.
15. Boil till soft. (Aproximately 30 min, varies depending on how big the pot is and how thick you cut your veggies.)
16. Once the chicken frames are cool to a temperature you can handle them, chip whatever meat there is off.
17. Set the meat aside.
18. Pluck out the bay leaves.
19. Whiz soup till smooth. We use a bar mixer personally.
20. Return chicken meat to pot.
21. Add salt and pepper to taste - for those who aren't familiar, this means add a bit, stir it well, let the flavors mingle for a minute or two, spoon a bit out and taste to tell if it suits your preferences. Don't be afraid of the salt -- one of the basic tenants of cheffing is that salt equals flavor.
22. Soup is now ready to eat but if you prefer a thicker soup, allow to simmer uncovered to reduce, till it's as thick as you like.