Chicken soup

2 tablespoons vegetable (or light olive) oil

 1 large onion

1 large carrot

1 stick celery

250g new potatoes

1L chicken stock (see recipe)

100-200g roast chicken leftovers

1 tablespoon fresh or dried herbs (mixed, parsley, thyme, whatever)

100ml double cream (optional, but you know you want to)

Chop the vegetables and chicken finely. Pick the herbs of their stalks (if fresh) and chop finely.

In a large pan, heat the oil. Fry the onion over a medium heat, until glossy but not browned. Add the chopped carrot, celery and potatoes, and fry gently for 2 minutes.

Add the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer gently (for about 10-15 minutes) until the carrots are soft (they take the longest). Add the chopped chicken, and herbs, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Check seasoning, and add salt if necessary.

If you like a clear soup, serve it now. If you want to keep the soup, it will last a couple of days in the fridge, or freeze well.

If you prefer a creamy soup, remove half of the bits and blend the stock with the remaining bits. Return the bits you removed, and stir in the double cream. Don’t boil the soup after you’ve added the cream, or it might split. Oh, and don’t freeze soup with cream in it – it goes weird.

You can add other vegetables, or change the ones in the recipe. Sweetcorn is nice, as are leeks. Not cauliflower, though, unless you like grey soup with the texture of glue. If you really want to make cauliflower soup, check out the ‘cauliflower cream’ recipe. Oh, and if you use mushrooms, add them with the chicken and herbs or you’ll get brown soup.