Grandma’s Chicken and Corn Soup

Grandma is heading north for a couple of months to spend time with my sister, so we spent a very pleasant Saturday afternoon cooking up several recipes so I can continue to post them on the blog in her absence. First cab off the rank (there’s a word you won’t find in most Woman’s Weekly cookbooks) was this awesome chicken soup. I don’t use the word awesome lightly. I did NOT want to share this.

Last time I made a chicken soup it was so bland even the kids gave it up for some cheese toasties. This soup is a carnival for your taste buds.

Grandma had to pop out at one point to grab some pastry sheets.

“How’s the chicken soup going?” she asked me when she returned.

“No good,” I told her, stirring another pot of soup we were making. “Tossed the lot.”

Unfortunately, she’s known me longer than anyone, so she checked in the fridge behind the milk.

“For the dog,” I lied.

Usually it’s the kids licking the bowls, but this time it was all me.

You Will Need:

3 cups water + 1 tablespoon water

1 chicken stock cube

1 teaspoon grated ginger + 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger

1 onion, sliced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

4 chicken thigh fillets

420g can creamed corn

1 tablespoon cornflour

50g ham

1 shallot, chopped

STEP ONE. In a saucepan, combine 3 cups water, stock cube, 1 teaspoon ginger, onion and parsley, then add fillets of chicken. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

STEP TWO. Chop up the chicken and set aside. Try not to eat the chicken at this point. This will be difficult because, quite frankly, the soup isn’t necessary – the chicken tastes good enough to eat just like this. But if you insist on soup, strain the stock. Keep the stock, toss the onion mix.

STEP THREE. Return stock to the heat, adding can of corn and 1/2 teaspoon ginger. Bring to the boil again.

STEP FOUR. Blend cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water, add to the saucepan, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils again.

STEP FIVE. Add chicken, ham and shallots to the stock mixture. Soup is doneskies, just one more step.

STEP SIX. Cook sausages and mash for the kids. It’s my experience the above soup only serves one.

Seriously, quite aside from me, this was a favourite with everyone from Miss1 to Miss36. I will be making this again within a week – double batch.

When not typing away over here and checking his stats every two minutes,

Bruce Devereaux hangs out at his ‘BIG FAMILY little income’  Facebook Page.

 ’raising a family on little more than laughs’