The Wonders of Wadebridge

Today’s lunch was soup again – I’m very partial – made from the carcass of a roast chicken.

Chunky Chicken, Leek & Potato Soup – serves 2 generously

A roast chicken carcass – not too thoroughly stripped 
(see here for how to use every part of a chicken)
1 large leek 
1 tbsp olive oil 
1 large baking potato 
500 ml water or stock

~ Put the carcass into a pot (break it up if necessary) and add the water or stock. 
~ Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. 
~ Turn off the heat and remove the chicken from the stock - set aside a few minutes till cool enough to handle. 
~ Manually strip every last bit of meat from the bones (there are two particularly succulent nuggets of flesh, known as oysters, on the underside of the chicken), and set the meat aside. 
~ If you are not in a hurry return the bones to the stock and cook for a while longer but it’s not essential - you can always add a stock cube! 
~ Cut off the root end of the leek, remove the outer layer and cut the leek into pieces. Clean carefully. 
~ Cook the leek gently, covered, in the olive oil till soft. 
~ Peel and slice the potato and add to the leeks. Pour over the chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer till the potatoes are tender. 
~ Using a potato masher crush the potatoes into the soup. 
~ Taste and season and stir in the reserved chicken pieces. 
~ Reheat as needed but Do Not Boil once the chicken has been added or it will toughen.

This is delicious with croutons and frazzled prosciutto torn into pieces and baked alongside the croutons till crisp. See here for how to make deliciously perfect croutons from leftover bread.

Yesterday I popped into Wadebridge for a couple of hours – got myself some delicious soup enhancing Vicky’s bread, from Relish. I was so pleased to see The Vine open – the superb greengrocers, until very recently known as Stokes on the Platt, which had a bit of trouble, closed briefly and was saved by shop staff and the people of Wadebridge.

I like Wadebridge - it's a real town with real shops, many of them, including Relish and The Vine, selling really good food; two excellent butchers (I pondered lamb shanks but I think I’ll get some later this week) a fishmonger, Granny Wobbly’s of course, and the lovely greengrocers in question – also lots of charity shops which are another reason to go there.

Fudge being made at Granny Wobbly's

We have been nomading around for years so I am used to packing up all our belongings and moving on, I thought I was quite good at it. Not so apparently - I have, for a while been wondering where some kippers had gone - opening bags and boxes in an ever more cautious manner. Eventually I decided I must have left them in our caravan which we vacated almost 2 weeks ago. – so yesterday we went and had a look. Thank God we did because they were just on the verge of becoming seriously under-pleasant and I think by next April they would have been well past their best.