Chicken soup

It seems to be around two months since I lasted reported on chicken soup, at reference 1, so having had a good one today, it seems right to notice the recipe.

Take one small chicken and discard most of the flesh. Place the carcasse in a large saucepan with 3 pints of water, four stalks of celery, three small carrots, two medium onions and one peppercorn. Boil for around 3 hours then strain. Wash the debris through the strainer, into the strained liquor to get the last knockings.

Add two and a half coffee jar lids full of red lentils and bring back to the boil. Turn heat off and leave to cool.

Following day, add a pint of the gravy which had accompanied the flesh of the chicken, together with the jelly from the roasting juices. Slice crosswise any celery that might be left and add that.

Bring back to the boil and simmer for an hour to finish cooking the lentils.

Slice two large carrots crosswise. Coarsely chop any cold boiled potatoes that might be lying around. Coarsely chop 200 grams of saucisson sec. Add to the simmering soup about 10 minutes before you want to serve.

Thinly slice any stump of white cabbage that might be lying about. Say 200 grams worth. Add that about 5  minutes before you want to serve.

Serve with brown bread. By which time the lentils should have almost dissolved and there should be a scattering of lentil fly floating on top. See reference 2. The soup should be thick with plenty of lumps, but it should still be wet and you should still be able to strain a yellow liquor from it. Not like, for example, custard or the sort of creamed soup you get from tins.

I think I can say, with no false modesty, that after around 50 years, I have finally got the hang of chicken soup with lentils.

PS: a pity that we did not make it to the experimental farm at Ottawa when we were there back in 2014, where I think they would have been more forthcoming about dead flies in the lentils than our supermarkets have proved.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/chicken-soup.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/candid-camera.html.