Cock-a-Leekie Soup (Chicken and Leek Soup) | EASY

My father is Scottish, and this is a traditional Scottish dish, but I did not learn this from him. I pretty much made this up myself. It is a warm, comforting bowl of chicken soup (or stew, if you prefer it thicker) that's great on cold winter days. Since it uses barley instead of noodles or rice, it freezes and reheats well (but you might want to add a bit of water if it gets too thick for your tastes) because the barley doesn't get mushy, even when it has absorbed more of the stock. That is, if it ever makes it to the freezer. My family loves it so much that neither of the two batches I've made so far this season have lasted more than two days in the refrigerator!

Soups are so forgiving. You can "cheat" and use store-bought stock, or stock from a dehydrated stock cube (or jar) -- the cream is helpful in this case to give the soup a thicker mouth feel, since those are generally lacking in gelatin. You can use the last bits of a rotisserie chicken you bought at the store. Whatever vegetables you like, or sound good together, can go in the pot; the only consideration you may need to make is the cooking time for specific vegetables and the texture you're looking for, since root veg often can cook much longer than, say, broccoli, before losing all shape and being just mush. (There's nothing wrong with mush, if you like that -- a nice blended soup is great, too!)

And if you find you like this general method, you can use it for other meats too! Bones and bits from your Christmas ham, beef bones from your standing rib roast, with ground beef in your soup if there's not much actual meat left.

I wrote this up here: https://www.copymethat.com/r/6GjOHbTJ...

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