lemon chicken soup

13 More Sleeps Until Christmas!

There’s two weeks until Christmas and I’m already running out of holly jolly superlatives.  I also find myself totally sick of rich foods.  Between the dinners out and the baked goods I’ve been making (and quickly giving away)... right about now I just need a low-cal palette cleansing meal.

So this morning while cleaning out my fridge I decided that soup was in order.  Always comforting, soup has all the necessities of a meal but can be a nice light change.  It’s also a great thing this time of year for anyone who might be suffering from or trying to ward off the flu. 

I made this with the leftovers of a roast chicken I made the other night (same recipe as this one).  I then used the carcass of the chicken, water and rosemary and boiled it to make a nice stock.  But if you’re not feeling particularly up to doing all of that feel free to use chicken breast, or one of those rotisserie chickens you can get at the deli and store bought stock.  The point of this soup is to give you a nice light Saturday meal, so try to make it easy on yourself.

ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large leek, sliced
• 1 lemon
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1 cup cooked shredded chicken
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• pepper to taste

The first thing you’re going to want to do is a little prep work.  Take your leek and cut off the ends and remove the first layer.  Leeks are really good at storing dirt so you’ll want to slice it finely and then put it in a large colander to rinse thoroughly.  You can leave this in the sink to drain while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Wash your lemon because you’re going to use the zest of the skin.  Using a microplane or lemon zester, zest the entire outside of your lemon and reserve it in a small bowl.  Using the same microplane you’re going to grate the ginger into the same bowl until you’ve gotten about 1 tsp of it.

Put a large pot on your stove on medium-high and add in your oil.  Once it’s warmed up slightly add in your leeks.  Stir with a wooden spoon until slightly cooked.  Slice your lemon in half and juice it over the leeks.  Add in the cooked chicken, lemon zest & ginger and give that a good stir.  Allow this all to cook for a couple of minutes.

Reduce your heat to medium and add in your 6 cups of chicken stock, a sprig of rosemary and some fresh ground pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for about 20 minutes.  The soup will be ready to eat, though you can leave it on for longer if you want to.

Wrap yourself up in a wool sweater, put on the fireplace and enjoy the fact that you’re not outside in the cold.