Whenever I think of soup, I think of my mom. It is funny really how so many of us have that association. Comfort food in its finest form I suppose. Whether it was when I was feeling sick or even if it was just a chilly day outside, soup was something which always made me feel better as a kid - and now that I am a mom too, I find myself being the one offering the comfort when it is needed. In fact, today is actually one of those days as my little man is not feeling too well. Though such a simple and rather humble dish, soup seems to embody this sort of “unspoken magic” doesn’t it.

As the weather begins to cool down for us now, it has me thinking about more Wintery recipes in my kitchen and soup is thankfully something Jude absolutely loves! Now, I like any kind of soup but if I am honest, my favourite will always be a very simple, chunky lamb and veg soup, or any meat and veg really speaking… the main thing being “chunky” - you know, when you get to the end of your serving and there is a bowl filled with meat scraps, veg and bones - that is the good stuff man!

In fact, when it comes to the making of soup - more often than not I do not even go and buy anything for it - I will just make a pot of deliciousness with whatever is lying around in the fridge and kitchen. Waste not, want not as my mom would always say. So this instance was no exception to that procedure (or lack thereof, lol)

I headed to the fridge and remembered that there was some left over spatch cock peri peri chicken which I roasted a couple of nights ago. Opened the freezer and found a pack of diced bacon... so right there, I had the two winners already. I took the bacon out to defrost and began stripping the chicken. There were also two whole roasted onions which I definitely wasn't going to waste.

Chicken stripped, I took one "fresh" onion, chopped it and popped that into a pot with a little olive oil, alongside the already roasted onions, sauteed the lot, turned the stove off and set it one side. Next was on to prepping the veg and there is a fair amount of veg lying around... except darn potatoes haha!!! There were no traditional potatoes, so I ended up peeling and cubing jackets potatoes - because, well... potatoes and no good soup is complete without them! Peeling jacket potatoes is no fun lol, but it was worth the extra effort!

A little bit of freshly chopped parsley, rosemary and then two whole bay leaves. I threw it all into the pot with the onions, added some chicken stock and water. Perhaps you use liquid stock or a stock pot - whatever takes your fancy.

Then I added six of the larger, "easier to find and remove" chicken bones, because anybody who makes good stews and soups knows that the ones cooked with bones are ALWAYS better! Yes, you can actually go and buy packs of soup bones - but I was not going anywhere so used what I had! Something is better than nothing, right?!

I wanted to bulk up the veg a little, so grabbed some mixed frozen veg and added that to the mix too, along with salt, freshly ground pepper, some chicken spice and a nice healthy dollop of Mrs. Balls Chutney.

Brought that lot to the boil, and let it cook for a good 30 minutes before reducing the heat and letting it simmer for about another 30 minutes. If I am making a smooth soup such as butternut, pea or cauliflower then yes, I will use a hand held blender once all the ingredients have cooked... but this is not one of "those" soups, no - this is the rustic and chunky, old school kind of soup which I grew up watching my mom make.

So, once everything is cooked through, I turn the heat off, give it all a few minutes and then use a potato masher to break it all up into a nice fine consistency, but so that as you finish your soup and all the bread which accompanied it, you are left with a few chunky veg and pieces of meat to enjoy!

The chicken, as you know - was already cooked, so I just needed to fry up the bacon bits! The two meats would be the last thing to enter the pot... first being the chicken and very last, the bacon. If you put the bacon in at the beginning of ANY soup or stew, then all EVERYTHING tastes like, is BACON - yeah, ok... I can hear many of you saying "so! what's wrong with that?!" lol - but I prefer to let the other flavours shine too - and get a pop of bacon in your mouth every few. Once fried I set it one side in a sieve to allow any and all excess fat to drain off because you don't want an excessively oily soup.

After about 1.5 hrs of cooking time for the soup, I killed the heat - and then threw in the chicken. I let that be for a couple of hours and then added the bacon bits. No heat! Just added it in. The heat within the pot was still enough warm each meat and allow their flavours time to make their way into the broth. That was it! It stood there for the remainder of the day... as ANY good stew, curry or soup should! About 30 minutes before wanting to serve, I cranked up the gas, got it boiling very quickly and then killed it to let it sit for ten minutes before tucking in!

Bon Appétit

❤❤❤

Until next time...
Much Love from Country Bumpkinland, South Africa xxx
Jaynielea

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lupega (70) · 7 months ago

It is true, a hot soup makes mothers remember, always with that tenderness, YOU, for example, say that it is such a simple and quite humble dish, but it has that seasoning of a mother's LOVE, it is the best seasoning that exist, tenderness converted In a bowl of soup, I remember my mother, she died several years ago, I NEVER forget her, but reading this I remember her much more.
Your son will be relieved, he has a wonderful mother