“When I get a bad case of man flu, this simple twist on chicken soup perks me right up ”
- Jamie Oliver
1.5 kg higher-welfare chicken
2 carrots , peeled and roughly chopped
2 sticks celery , roughly chopped
1 rasher higher-welfare smoked bacon
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 handful shiitake mushrooms
1 splash sherry or port , optional
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
Put your chicken, carrot, celery and bacon in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer slowly for an hour and a quarter, skimming the white residue off the top every now and again. Add your rosemary sprigs, shitake mushrooms and sherry (if you are using it) for the last 10 minutes, then remove the chicken from the pan. It should be perfectly cooked, and will be great for salads or sandwiches or for tearing into slivers to put into the soup. Season the soup with salt and ladle it through a sieve into bowls, trying not to disrupt it too much as you want to keep it reasonably clear. Add the chicken slivers and a few mushrooms to each bowl and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil. The finished thing should be a kinda clear consommé.