Whether we want to curl up in front of the fire or cure a cold, soup is the solution to many cold weather woes. Each winter, I find myself wanting a new spin on the classic chicken soup, and Scotland has been hiding out with this regionally specific soup with a surprising secret ingredient.
Cock-a-leekie soup. Yes! That is the name, but don’t be judging the name so quickly. Cock-a-leekie soup has a pretty long history in Scotland and some dub it the national soup of Scotland. There are many recipes around, however, this video shows step-by-step instructions to make a proper version of cock-a-leekie soup.
For the initial broth, you’ll be using the dark part of the leeks, a whole cleaned chicken, a bay leaf, garlic cloves, and pitted prunes. You read that right. Prunes are the secret ingredient to this chicken soup. Recipes after the 18th century omitted prunes, but the original recipes included them. You don’t get a gross sweetness in the broth. The prunes soften the onion flavor of the leeks and add a deep rich color to the broth.
The soup will boil for a little over an hour, after which you remove the chicken and pull the meat off the bone. If you have time, you should add the bones back into the stock to simmer it further — this will make the broth even more complex. But if you’re running short on time you can skip this step.
Next, you skim some of the fat and strain the broth of the leeks, bay leaf, garlic cloves, and prunes.
You’re going to be adding fresh batches of leeks at different stages of this soup, so start by cutting and cleaning your remaining leeks. You add half of the cut leeks into the broth alongside a starch. In the video, rice is starch, yet you can swap rice for other things like barley, oats, parsnips, or potatoes. The soup simmers again for another hour to cook the starch and thicken the soup. At this point, you can salt and pepper to taste.
You finally add the remaining leeks, shredded chicken, and fresh thyme, cooking until the leeks are cooked through, but not too mushy.
This soup stretches the budget without compromising on taste!