Chicken Soup/Stew

• pack of chicken thighs (500g)
• 2 leeks
• 6 medium carrots
• small bunch of thyme
• 1 stick celery
• 1 tin cannelini beans
• 1 glass white wine
• 0.5 - 1.0 lt/1-2 pt chicken stock (good quality stock is very important)

Bone and trim the thighs, and brown them with a little oil (they give off a lot of fat, so use just enough to start them). Skin them after browning, and break up into decent sized lumps - sort of broad bean sized, if that helps.

Soften the leeks and celery in a little oil, or some of the chicken fat. Season, then add the thyme, chicken, beans, and chunks of carrot. Deglaze the pan used for the chicken with the white wine, after pouring off the excess fat. Add the juices to the casserole, and top up with stock. Heat over a low flame for 30 minutes to allow flavours to mingle.

You can make stock with the bones and skin from the thighs, although this will take somewhat longer. I use stock made from a recent roast chicken, and use the thigh bones to make some more. Make stock by boiling the chicken remnants (cooked or uncooked, doesn’t really matter): carcass, bones, skin, waste meat, with an onion, a bay leaf, a couple of carrots and some (optional) herbs. Make the boil very gentle, so the stock stays reasonably clear; if the carcass is from a good chicken, you need a couple of hours (2-4) to extract all the gelatine from the bones. If it is a typical supermarket chicken, then just 1 hour.

Alternatives:

You can use onion instead of leek. Add a bay leaf. Uses a couple of handfuls or rice or broken up pasta instead of the beans. Use tarragon instead of thyme, or in addition.

Comment: depending on the size of your pack of thighs, this could be very meaty. Personally, I prefer relatively little meat - a couple of thighs should be sufficient.