Name: Cream of chicken and leek soup
Yield: Serves 4-6 (makes 1 litre)
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons plain white flour, sifted; 1 heaped teaspoon flaked sea salt; hot buttered toast, to serve (optional); 2 medium leeks, any chewy outer layers and root removed; 750 ml good strong chicken stock with proper taste; 300 ml full-fat milk; 100 ml cream; 50 g unsalted butter; the faintest squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to give an edge but no more; ground white pepper; a smidgen of dried thyme; a small scratch of nutmeg; 2 good handfuls of cooked chicken meat that has been picked from a Sunday roast, pulled into strips or diced (optional)

Preparation info

Serves
4-6
(makes 1 litre )

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

What to Eat Next

By Valentine Warner

Published 2014

About

This smooth, creamy, velvety soup offers the same comfort for cold weather as a box of hankies for the weeping.

The recipe is all about homemade stock. I would always advocate making your own stock, as bought brands tend to be insipid, and this recipe starts from the standpoint that the stock has been made already. A note here for when making a chicken stock from the wreckage of Sunday lunch: before you begin it’s imperative that you explore the inside of the chicken and take out an