Comfort food: chicken and vegetable soup (Western style)

(serves 5-6)

So i love the idea of having sick leave but i hate being sick. This is my 2nd time being sick this winter and i am a bit of a sook. All these beautiful sunny days outdoors that i can't enjoy because i'm coughing and spluttering the minute i open my mouth to talk and feeling too lethargic to even walk to the shops, never mind go for a run! Being sick is B-O-R-I-N-G, so to cheer myself up, i thought i may as well blog about what i'm eating. Which, of course, is none other than home-made chicken soup. I only learnt to make this Western style of chicken soup when Paul got sick last year, and it's not quite as tasty as Chinese soup but definitely more nutritious with all the vegetables in it! 
Boiling the soup on the first round gets all the nutrients from the bones and vegetables, then draining gives you a clear soup. The second round of cooking allows you to keep the texture of the vegetables and have everything in bite-sized pieces! 

Prep time: 30 min
Cooking time: 2-3 hours (on the stove or in a thermal cooker) + 40 minutes when ready to serve

Ingredients
2 chicken carcasses (1 bag bones)
0.5 kg chicken drumsticks (or other chicken meat)
1 carrot
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 leek
1 parsnip

To serve:
500-600g chicken breast (to poach)
1 broccoli
1 leek
1 onion
1 carrot
1/2 stalk celery
200g corn kernels
1 swede (peeled)
4-5 sprigs parsley, finely chopped

Method
1. Clean the carcasses by removing any innards. Take the skin off the chicken drumsticks (if you want to have minimal fat) and place into a large pot. Pour 3-4 L of water in and bring to the boil.

Forgot to take the skin off this time!

2. Roughly cut one carrot, onion, celery, leek and parsnip up and chuck into the pot too. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1-2 hours (or place in a thermal/magic cooker for several hours).
3. Skim the surface for any fat and discard. Drain all the soup ingredients via a sieve into a large bowl. Wash the pot then put the soup back in and bring to the boil.

4. Halve the chicken breast and place into the boiling soup. Poach the chicken breast by bringing the water just back up to the boil, then remove from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and let it cool, then dice into 1cm squares.
NB. You may need to check if it is cooked by slicing it open. You may need to put it back in for another 3-4 minutes (depending on how thick your breast is!)
5. Meanwhile finely chop the broccoli, leek, onion, carrot, celery and swede into 1cm squares.

6. Once the chicken has been removed, bring the soup back to boil again, then place all the remaining soup ingredients in and cook on medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until soft. 
NB. If you're not having this all at the same time, you may want to leave the vegetables uncooked as they may get too soft when you reheat the soup - but this is ok if you have a sore throat and can't chew/swallow properly!
7. To serve, spoon out the vegetables into the bowls, place in the poached chicken and then spoon in the soup. Sprinkle with parsley and serve!

Removing the vegetables and chicken ensures they're not over-cooked,
especially if you're keeping it for the next day!