Cockaleekie Soup

This is a famous Scottish soup, and one which has lots of variations. The core of it however is just chicken, and leek. The dish is known as far back as the sixteenth century, and Talleyrand is known to have loved it, though he recommended eating it with prunes...

I diced a large carrot first of all. Then I topped and tailed a medium sized leek, cut it in half lengthways, before dicing it into half inch pieces. Both were added to a pan of boiling water.

I cut the meat from a previously roasted chicken thigh (l left the skin on, but this is a matter of personal choice) and added the pieces to the pan, plus some of the chicken jelly from the roast. I then added about a quarter of a cup of American long grain rice, and stirred thoroughly.

To complete the dish, add black pepper to taste, and either chicken stock, or some salt. Cook for about an hour and a half. This delicious soup is an instance of less being more!