Thursday, July 29, 2021

Susan Hamrick’s Cock-a-Leekie Soup @LucyBurdette #giveaway




LUCY BURDETTE: In A SCONE OF CONTENTION (coming August 10!), Hayley Snow and company attend a fancy dinner party at a castle in Edinburgh, Scotland at the home of Hayley's new sister-in-law's friend. Grace the chef serves this soup at Ainsley and Dougal’s dinner. 


One of my Scotland trip mates, Susan, gave me permission to share this recipe, which I imagine to be similar to Grace’s soup. Although the addition of prunes may sound odd, Susan tells me that traditional Cock-a-leekie soup does contain diced prunes. And they give the soup a lovely sweet tinge which you would not want to miss.


Ingredients


4 pounds chicken thighs, bone in and skin removed

10 cups water, or water plus chicken broth

1 onion, chopped

1/3 cup barley (or can substitute 1 pound peeled, cubed potatoes)

1 cup chicken broth

7 leeks, cleaned and sliced 

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1 sprig fresh thyme, chopped

1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp salt

½ tbsp ground black pepper

6 pitted prunes, chopped  



To prepare the leeks, trim off roots and coarse dark green tops. Cut in half lengthways and wash under running water thoroughly to remove any grit or soil. Then slice. 









Slice the celery. Chop the thyme, parsley and prunes.






In a large stock pot combine chicken, water, leeks, onion and barley or potatoes.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for an hour. 

 

Remove chicken, shred the meat, and discard bones. Chop meat into bite size pieces and return to the pot. 

 





Add rest of ingredients including the reserved chicken broth, celery, thyme, parsley, prunes, salt and ground black pepper.  Simmer for another 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.    

 







Serve with cheese scones and a green salad. Leftovers can be frozen.




A Scone of Contention will be on bookshelves near you on August 10. Leave a comment about your favorite soup to be entered in a drawing for the new book! 

 A scone-by-scone tour of glorious Scotland. Foodies and Outlander fans will rejoice in the references to both in this not-so-mysterious paean to Scotland. –Kirkus

52 comments:

  1. That is a toss up between Rise No 3 Marshmallow soup and St. Martin’s Brie soup.
    Kitten143 (at) Verizon (dot) net

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  2. This looks so unique that it might just work! :-D

    LauraAli317 (at) gmail (dot) com

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    Replies
    1. I was suspicious at first, but I've made it several times and it's easy and wonderful!

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  3. great soup recipe.............. looks good

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  4. This soup recipe looks easy, delicious, and unique! I love split pea soup, Senate White Bean Soup, and Loaded Baked Potato Soup, as well as many other soups!

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

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  5. My favorite soup is a chicken tortilla soup that I make in the crockpot. It's so easy and delicious. I serve it with diced avocado, shredded jack cheese and crispy slices of tortilla chips. A winner, especially during the cooler months. 3labsmom(at)gmail(dot)com

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  6. The addition of prunes to this soup does give pause, but is definitely intriguing! My favorite soups are gazpacho and seven can bean soup. I can't wait to read about Hayley in Scotland! bobandcelia@sbcglobal.net

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  7. I love leeks! I literally collect leek recipes, so thank for this one!

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  8. This looks interesting. My favorite soup is split pea. People seem to have strong opinions about it (many seem to dislike it) but I love it!
    I can't wait to read your new book.

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  9. My current favorite soup is the pleasantly spicy and mostly healthy King Ranch chicken soup, which I make in the instant pot. mbunting(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

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  10. My favorite soup is vegetable soup. Very filling. cheetahthecat1986ATgmailDOTcom

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  11. I make cock-a-leekie without prunes but my favorite soup to make is lamb barley. It’s a 2 day soup since I cook the bones in the broth and then chill it overnight so .I can remove the fat and then make the rest of the soup but I make enough to freeze.
    sgiden at verizon(.)net


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  12. I like hot and sour soup.
    wskwared(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  13. As always, I can't wait to get my hands on Hayley's next adventure!! Interesting soup, will have to try it. I make a homemade chicken soup which is a favorite with the family, but my favorite is potato leek soup.
    sallycootie(at)gmail(dot)com

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  14. The Cock-a-Leekie Soup recipe sounds delicious and you are right I would never have thought to put prunes in a soup.

    My favorite soup is vegetable beef. Memories are of Mom fixing it after we had a roast to use up the leftover meat. Although I don't think mine measures up to Mom's, it turns out pretty good especially in the summer due to all the fresh veggies that we can put in it. It's also a soup that seems to get better each time you heat it up.

    Thank you for the fabulous chance to win a copy of "A Scone of Contention"! It's on my TBR list and can't wait for the opportunity to read it.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  15. Tomato Basil soup is my favorite. Tasty and perfect for all year. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  16. Besides my mom's recipes for chicken noodle or vegetable beef, I also love a recipe I got from a neighbor for corn chowder. It's a great cold weather meal and my mom enjoys it too.
    kozo8989(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  17. Ohmygosh, what fun! I love soup -- it's the theme food in The Solace of Bay Leaves, the 5th Spice Shop Mystery. As for faves, nearly all, but Tomato Basil is probably top of the list -- fitting as I first had it at the cafe that inspired Ripe, the cafe one of Pepper's pals runs in my series!

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  18. It looks wonderful. Approximately, how many cups of chopped leeks do you end up adding to the soup? I am definitely trying this, although your strawberry cake is still my favorite Lucy Burdette recipe.

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  19. Thank you for this unique recipe. :-)
    Denise
    dlc1228@gmail.com

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  20. Chicken and dumpling soup. Yours sounds delicious.
    Thank you for the chance. Hayley is a favorite character of mine.
    Thank you for writing this series. Donakutska7@gmail.com

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  21. Broccoli cheese soup...has to be my answer although there are many close contenders.... Thank you for this recipe for a soup with a twist... Would never have thought of adding prunes to soup!
    rcraftlady@gmail.com

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  22. My favorite soup is matzo ball soup. I'm not sure about the prunes in the chicken soup, bit it's probably delicious.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

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  23. I love chicken and rice soup, comfort food for celiacs! Love this series. Thanks for a chance. ljbonkoski@yahoo.com

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  24. My favorite is Minestrone from the Second Silver Palate cookbook. It uses fresh tortellini instead of dry pasta. Makes a ton.

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  25. Senate Bean and Potato Leek are longtime favorites. The recipe that starts "take a bucket of spring water" is Aunt Jessie's 10-Vegetable Soup, which has never failed me. It's a very old recipe that was rewritten for modern times, using short ribs.

    But I love soup, almost any kind!

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  26. Thank you for this wonderful soup recipe. I like to make vegetable soup in my crockpot. This book sounds interesting.

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  27. Avgolemeno soup is my favorite.

    jtcgc at yahoo dot com

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  28. I'm a soup lover & oh yes to leeks! Faves are minestrone, Italian Wedding w/little meatballs,tortilla with chicken,any kind of potato, gumbos, chowders, split pea, tomato-basil, you name it I'll eat it! On really hot days like now, I make lots of cold soup esp.gazpacho or vichyssoise(more leeks!) I often just make up soups from whatever's on hand, like once my dad asked what this delicious soup was I'd concocted, I said well, let's call it "Rainy Day Soup" and he loved it! Congrats on the release, Lucy! Can't wait to read it! lola777_22 at hotmail dot com

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  29. The soup looks delicious. I love Potato cheese soup and Tortilla chicken soup.

    strgth4yu(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  30. The book is a treat (lucky me! I've already read it!)
    This soup sounds great and it's good to know it freezes well since it makes a lot.
    What size pieces do you make the prunes?

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  31. My favorite soup was my mom's chicken corn soup but I'm not good at making soups. I just use Campbells and doctor them up. Looking forward to the new book.

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  32. My favorite soup is Italian Stuffed Pepper soup. Great with all the fresh green peppers available right now. Also freezes well.
    lindalou64(@)live(dot)cim

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  33. I love split pea and potato soups! tWarner419(at)aol(dot)com

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  34. My favorite is chicken noodle followed closely by broccoli cheddar.
    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

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  35. I love homemade chicken noodle soup. Thanks for the chance!
    Jess
    Maceoindo(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  36. Looks delicious! My mom's chicken noodle soup is my favorite. cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  37. My favorite soup is loaded potato. This recipe looks very interesting with the prunes in it... I'll have to give it a try! Mickeymania1@aol.com

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  38. Really different soup! I can’t wait for the next Hayley adventure!

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  39. Chicken rice soup
    worwichistory101@hotmail.com

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  40. I love Italian Wedding Soup and French Onion Soup. Thank you for this chance! areewekidding(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  41. My favorite soup is Vietnamese Chicken Pho soup
    digicats {at} sbcglobal {dot} net

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  42. I love broccoli cheddar or potato soup. Thanks for the chance.

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  43. I make my chicken soup 16 qts at a time and then freeze it in 2qt containers. I also do a turkey, bean, barley and vegetable soup that after 30 seconds with the immersible blender gives a dark rich soup that my kids actually liberate from our freezer when we're not home. My wife is the split pea soup specialist. She makes it meat free in a Pareve pot (for foods that have no milk or meat in them.) I'm going to try this recipe but I'll use something else instead of the cheese scones to serve with it.

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  44. My favorite soup is Hamburger Soup; loaded with hamburger, pasta, potatoes, carrots, tomato soup,onions

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  45. My favorite soup is Hamburger Soup; loaded with hamburger, pasta, potatoes, carrots, tomato soup,onions

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  46. About 35 years ago one of my daughters made Cock-a-Leekie Soup as part of a learning project on Scotland. Her Girl Scout troop broke into groups and 3 or 4 girls worked together with as little adult supervision as possible. I can remember standing back and laughing as they worked together to figure out how to combine ingredients. Their soup turned out delicious, however a recipe like the one shared here would have made their day easier. I look forward to trying this recipe soon.

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