Cream of chicken soup recipe

Give yourself the ultimate comfort food hug with this homemade cream of chicken soup - it's the cure for almost almost everything. 

Of course you could buy a tin on your way home and heat it up on the hob, but freshly homemade is always going to beat anything out of a packet. The extra time it takes is time for pouring love and care into the bowl and you get it back in spades when it's done. This soup is easy to make and ready in about 40 minutes. It serves four - great for a light family dinner. Alternatively you can double all the quantities and cook a batch for freezing, so you always have some for blue Monday (or any day) emergencies.

Ingredients

• ½ tbsp oil
• 500g skinless boneless chicken thighs
• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 350g potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 350g cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 75ml whipping cream
• 175ml milk

For the topping:

• 150g cauliflower florets, sliced to ¾-1cm thick
• 40g Parmesan, finely grated
• 1tbsp breadcrumbs
• 40g pancetta slices

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan and lightly brown the chicken on both sides; set aside. Add the onion, potato and cauliflower to the pan. Turn down the heat and mix well. Cover and leave to sweat for 10 mins.
2. Add the thyme, stock and chicken to the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 12 mins or until the vegetables are tender and the chicken cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan, then blitz the soup with a stick blender and season well. Shred the chicken and add the meat back to the pan along with the cream and milk, and heat through.
3. Put the cauliflower florets in a bowl with a little water, cover with clingfilm and microwave for 2 mins or until cooked through. Heat the grill to high, spread the florets over a baking tray lined with foil, sprinkle each piece with Parmesan and breadcrumbs, and top with pancetta. Grill until browned, then sprinkle over the soup.

Top tip for making cream of chicken soup

For a speedier topping, grill one slice of garlic baguette for each bowl and break it into four (we use scissors for ease, depending on how crunchy it is) to make easy garlic croutons.

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