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.
