With winter upon us, I suspect more soups will be eaten around the kitchen table, in front of the TV, or maybe as a nice warm lunch when you are out in the bush running a loader.
The nice thing about soups, most of them are so easy to make and you can easily make your own stock by saving the drippings in your pan or roaster when cooking a meat or vegetables.
There are so many good stocks for making soup in the grocery stores it almost doesn’t seem worthwhile to make it yourself.
Don’t throw away the good taste you can get, let’s say, when boiling carrots, because the water will get the nice taste of the vegetable.
Save that and when you want to make a vegetable soup, you could use this as the stock or part of it.
It’s a shame to throw that goodness down the sink.
Some of the best soups come from people opening their fridge and throwing a bunch of vegetables, some left over beef or barley, into a pot with some stock, some spices and herbs, and not long after a fragrant and tasty soup emerges.
The neat thing about soup, just put it in a thermos and you are good for a day in Mother Nature’s wonderland.
Cock-a-Leekie soup is a Scottish peasant-style dish with many regional variations – some which go back as far as the 16th century.
Some cooks may add chopped grilled bacon, some use beef, but like many soups there are and can be many variations.
Cock a Leekie Soup
• One two pound chicken
• 12 medium sized leeks, washed and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 4 ounces of long grain rice or barley
• 4 medium sized carrots, peeled and grated
• Salt and crushed black pepper
• Put the chicken into pot of water to cover it and add in half of the leeks.
• Cover the pot and simmer gently for about an hour or until chicken is falling from bone.
• Remove the bird and set aside.
• Strain the stock in a fresh pot, add in rice or barley in a covered pot for about 10 minutes.
• Add in grated carrots and the rest of the leeks, then cook for a further 20 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper.
You can put in a little of the cooked chicken if you wish.
Bye for now and Goood Cooking.und the kitchen table, in front of the TV, or maybe as a nice warm lunch when you are out in the bush running a load
The nice thing about soups, most of them are so easy to make and you can easily make your own stock by saving the drippings in your pan or roaster when cooking a meat or vegetables.
There are so many good stocks for making soup in the grocery stores it almost doesn’t seem worthwhile to make it yourself.
Don’t throw away the good taste you can get, let’s say, when boiling carrots, because the water will get the nice taste of the vegetable.
Save that and when you want to make a vegetable soup, you could use this as the stock or part of it.
It’s a shame to throw that goodness down the sink.
Some of the best soups come from people opening their fridge and throwing a bunch of vegetables, some left over beef or barley, into a pot with some stock, some spices and herbs, and not long after a fragrant and tasty soup emerges.
The neat thing about soup, just put it in a thermos and you are good for a day in Mother Nature’s wonderland.
Cock-a-Leekie soup is a Scottish peasant-style dish with many regional variations – some which go back as far as the 16th century.
Some cooks may add chopped grilled bacon, some use beef, but like many soups there are and can be many variations.
Cock a Leekie Soup
• One two pound chicken
• 12 medium sized leeks, washed and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 4 ounces of long grain rice or barley
• 4 medium sized carrots, peeled and grated
• Salt and crushed black pepper
• Put the chicken into pot of water to cover it and add in half of the leeks.
• Cover the pot and simmer gently for about an hour or until chicken is falling from bone.
• Remove the bird and set aside.
• Strain the stock in a fresh pot, add in rice or barley in a covered pot for about 10 minutes.
• Add in grated carrots and the rest of the leeks, then cook for a further 20 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper.
You can put in a little of the cooked chicken if you wish.
Bye for now and Goood Cooking.
Ken Wilson is a freelance columnist with the Tribune/Advisor.
