This is Alfie's favourite thing to eat at the moment if I am cooking. If I ask him what he wants, he shouts out this! I have had varying degrees of success in terms of getting a great flavour, usually depending on the stock used or if I have gone under or over board on the spicing/seasoning. I will be adding a homemade stock recipe soon to the website and if you get chance, give it a go, as having frozen cubes of real, preservative free stock in the freezer to add to dishes is so worth it in terms of both the health advantages and the flavour. You can play around with this recipe to your liking and add whatever spices or herbs you enjoy eating but the recipe below seems to work well. It is hearty, not at all spicy, warming and comforting, so kids like it and adults welcome it. It is so satisfying on a cold windy day. Add some toasted sourdough with loads of butter and dip it in the juices.

Ingredients: 3 small leeks or 2 large ones (Cut into round slices). 3 carrots (Cut into rounds, then halves, then quarters). 50g salted butter. 3 large garlic cloves (Crushed). Homemade chicken stock works amazingly in this but if like me you don't have time to always make it, use a stock pot or cube instead topped up with 1.1 litres of boiling water. Salt and pepper to taste (I use celtic grey salt and ground black peppercorns). 1 tsp paprika. 1tsp tumeric. 1tsp onion powder. 1 tsp garlic powder. 120g gluten free spaghetti (I am gluten free but use standard spaghetti if you don't need to use it. This is a cheaper way to do chicken noodle soup as noodles are more expensive and less readily available! If you like less noodles and more liquid, use 80g instead of spaghetti. A handful of fresh chopped parsley. 3 chicken breasts (I get mine from our amazing local butchers, they call them chicken supremes which are breasts, with the skin on, still on a bone at the end.) But get what you can. 150g sweetcorn.

Method: Prep by chopping up the leeks and carrots before cooking starts. Add the butter to a large casserole pot on medium heat to melt, then add the chopped vegetables. Cook them in the melted butter for 5 minutes. Add a drop of water if they start to stick. Crush in the garlic cloves and stir, let them cook for a minute. Add in homemade stock or made up stock using the stockpot and water, around 1.1-1.3 litres. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and add the paprika, tumeric, onion powder and garlic powder. Stir them in and bring to a light boil. Break in the spaghetti over the pan into smaller pieces (I snap them into about 3 shorter bundles). Simmer this for a few minutes, turning the heat down if its getting too hot. You can then add the raw chicken directly into the stock to cook (I like doing this with skin and bone still attached as it releases more flavour. You could alternatively roast the chicken first if you prefer, then add in the cooking juices too. Either way works well.) If cooking the chicken in the soup, pop them in, add the lid back on and cook for 5 minutes. Add another 200ml of water at this point, add the lid back on and continue to simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Remove the chicken and turn the heat off for now. Once cool enough to handle, strip off the skin and chop it up into chunks. Add the chopped chicken back to the pan making sure the bone is removed also. Add in the chopped parsley and sweetcorn and turn a medium heat back on for another 5-10 minutes to ensure the stock is well flavoured. 

 

Serve with something like a nice sourdough to dip into it or alone is nice too if you don't want a double carb hit. Enjoy x