This post finds me out in the rugged wild west of Ireland temporarily lodging in a rustic whitewash cottage, living the simple life. We cooked up a culinary storm earlier having a roast chicken with a delicious side of sweet potato and carrot mash baked with broccoli and topped with cheese and a sauce consisting of onion, garlic, red wine and creme fraise. Superb!

Needless to say there were remains, a pathetic bony carcass that had been ruthlessly hacked to pieces and just perfect for whipping up a delicious chicken stock to use as a base for a homemade chicken and vegetable soup, one which I made earlier and christened the Connemara chicken and vegetable soup, Jenny was a big fan of it so that’s 100% satisfaction.

The nice thing about this soup is that you know exactly every ingredient that goes into it, it’s healthy, it’s fresh, it’s rewarding and very simple to produce, I promise.

Before you go ahead with this operation, you need to pick off all that extra chicken that wasn’t good enough to make it to your plate. I mean really get in there, turn it upside down and inside out, rip off the skin, you’ll be amazed where you find flesh. Pop all that good stuff into a bowl (or a plate, you decide) and keep for later.

For the Chicken Stock

You will need:

• Chicken carcass (dead and partially eaten eaten)
• 2-3 carrots
• 1 large onion (or 2 medium)
• salt and pepper
• 1-2 garlic bulbs (optional)

1. Pop that poor unfortunate chicken carcass into a large pot and fill just shy of covering the carcass. Transfer to the hob on full heat.
2. In the meantime chop up 1 large onion, very roughly, same with the carrots and garlic, you don’t even have to peel the veg, all you want is the flavours. Lob all of that into the pan.
3. Bring to the boil and reduce to a low heat and leave it to simmer for about 2 hours (now get going on the prep for the soup)
4. When you’re happy, grab a colander and drain out those delicious juices into a container. At this point, the carcass (and veg) is of no use anymore and that brave chicken has sacrificed a lot for your tastebuds. The juice? that’s your stock!

The Soup

You will need:

• About 500ml of homemade chicken stock
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3-4 carrots, diced
• Baby or (peeled) rooster potatoes chopped up
• 1 garlic chopped finely
• Chicken leftovers peeled into strips
• Salt, pepper, butter
• Creme fraise (optional, or use milk)
• Parsnips (optional, or alternative to carrots)

1. Take your favourite pot and put it on a pan. Make heat happen under the pot and make it a medium heat. Lug a drop of oil and a generous knob of butter onto said pot.
2. Heap the onions into the pan, shake some salt and pepper on there and let them sweat it for 5 minutes until they look really tired and transparent.
3. Throw in the carrots and potatoes (and parsnips if you wish), cover and let it all cook for another few minutes. At this point if you want to throw in some extra spices you can do so now. Cumin and chilli are both good for a spicy twist.
4. Now take that beautiful homemade stock and drown the vegetables with it. Turn the heat up and bring to the boil then reduce to a low heat and simmer.
5. Take the leftover chicken pieces and pop them in along with another knob of butter for good measure, butter is your friend. Leave for about 30-45 minutes depending on how soft you want your vegetables.
6. Ok now you’ve got your soup basically, if you want that creamy texture, throw in a few tablespoons of creme fraise (you probably notice by now I don’t measure stuff) and give it a stir. If you have a blender you can blitz it into a smooth soup or just leave it like it is and eat it like a real country person.

That’s my first ever recipe, so….so nothing really, that’s my first recipe. See ya!