Chicken Carcass Stock Soup

I always boil up my chicken carcass to make a lovely stock which can be used for soup or in place of a stock cube.

This is my simple soup recipe

1 pint stock
1 pint water
1 tsp dried herbs
1 small onion finely diced
1 large carrot small dice
4 tbsp of orange lentils
1 medium potato small dice
any bits of chicken you have

Put the first 6 ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil, then simmer until the carrot is nearly cooked add in the potato and continue until this is so it will mash against the side of the pan with the back of a spoon, then add in the chicken to heat through.

I prefer this re-heated the next day so the potatoes and lentils seem to meld into the stock making a thicker base.

Leeks can be used instead of onions, and other bits of leftover veggies could quite easily be added at the end if wanted.

CARROT & PUMPKIN SOUP

I had a couple of small pumkins/squashes left in my veg rack which were the size of cricket balls.

so I made up a batch of this soup.

500g tub of hm chicken stock
2 leeks finely diced
small onion finely diced, (used a serving spoon of the precooked)
3 carrots small dice
the said pumpkin small dice
3 tennis ball size potatoes small dice.

sweat off the leeks in a glug of oil, add in the onions, carrots and pumpkin then add the stock plus the same again of water times 2.

let this all come to the boil then add 2 handsful of orange lentils and the potatoes, bring back to the boil, then turn down to a simmer until the carrots are soft,

Blitz with a whizz stick or similar and serve with pinch fresh ground black pepper and hm chunky bread.

This amount has made 6 x 2 ladel portions. It is a thick soup so can always be watered down further to stretch.