Our featured recipe for November, as part of our Plant to Plate calendar, is a golden vegetable and chicken soup. Combining the expertise of our gardening and baking experts Mark Lane and Val Stones, this winter warmer is perfect for cosy evenings – and leftovers make for a hearty lunch.
Val’s thoughts and tips:
Many years ago, this was my soup to make with leftover chicken and any seasonal golden vegetables such as carrots, squash, and swede. More recently, I have wanted to pep it up and so developed the recipe into this hearty winter soup.
Serving suggestions and timings:
- Serves: 4
- Preparation time: 20 minutes
- Cooking time: 1 hour
What you will need:
Large saucepan and a pair of tongs
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 4 celery sticks
- 4 carrots, peeled and cubed
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 200g butternut squash, cubed
- 100g swede, cubed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 litre chicken stock or broth
- 150ml whole milk
- 900g chicken breast, cut into thin slices
- 3-4 tbsp tomato paste
- 100g tinned sweetcorn
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp parsley, chopped, plus extra to serve
- Salt and pepper to season
To serve:
- 4 dessert spoons of double cream
- A little grated parmesan
- A handful of croutons
Method:
- Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onions, garlic, celery, carrots, potato, squash, swede, thyme, paprika, and sauté for five minutes
- Pour the stock and milk and gradually bring it to a gentle simmer. Add the chicken, stir in the tomato paste and simmer for 30 minutes
- Stir in the sweet corn and simmer for another five minutes
- Take the soup off the heat, remove the chicken pieces, pull it apart using forks and keep some aside to garnish, then return to the pan
- Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper
- To serve, divide between four warmed bowls, and add a piece of chicken to the top of each bowl. Sprinkle with parmesan and seeds. The soup can be blitzed to make a creamy soup if you want to
- This soup can be frozen once cool for up to three months. When it is defrosted, the soup will look separated, but if cooked gently and stirred, it will return to its original state
Use our Plant to Plate Calendar to build your own recipe book. Why not try your hand at pea and mint soup, salmon and broccoli quiche, or cod traybake with the help of our experts.
