Gluten Free Chicken Soup

Due to Jamie Oliver and Hugh highlighting chicken welfare to the nation, I'm struggling to get hold of free range chicken breasts at the supermarket. This week I had to buy a whole chicken, when really I just wanted a couple of breasts. Well I took the breasts off the chicken, which left me with a carcass with just its legs and wings intact. So today I have had a go at chicken soup! It's yummy, very healthy and perfect for this manky wintery day we are having. You can cook this with a chicken that has no breasts on, or a whole bird, it doesn't matter, but it was only one pound more for a whole bird, so why not buy one next time and make this soup once you have used the breasts.

free range organic whole chicken
baby carrots 15, topped and tailed
parsnip 1, peeled and halved
celery stalks 2, roughly chopped
flat leaf parsley large handful
marjoram/thyme small handful
bay leaves 2
peppercorns 10
onions 2, peeled and roughly chopped

Put all the veg, the parsley with its stalks, other herbs, the bay, peppercorns and chicken in a big pot. Add a good big pinch of salt and cover with boiling water from the kettle till your chicken is submerged. Bring up to the boil then reduce down to a very low simmer, as low as your hob will go, and cook for two hours.

After 2 hours remove the chicken and shred the meat from it. Drain the stock, keep the veg, skim any fat off the stock and reduce down if its rather pale, I reduced it in half. Slice the carrots and the parsnips, and add these back to the stock with the shredded chicken and some fresh chopped parsley. Season to taste.

When I made this it made enough soup for 2/3 big bowls, and also a pint of stock left for something else! If your chicken had breasts on you can put these in the soup to make more, using the additional stock, or they make a nice chicken salad or something.

Two hours may seem like a long while, but you don't need to do much while its doing, so you can get on with other things and come back to brilliant winter warming soup. It's super healthy, and apparently contains something that helps fight the winter sniffles!