Chicken, Leek and Celery Soup

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (about 1.3kg)
1 small head of celery, trimmed
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 fresh bayleaf
a few fresh parsley stalks
a few fresh sprigs of tarragon
2.5l water
3 large leeks
65g butter
2 potatoes, cut into chunks
150ml dry white wine
45ml single cream (optional)
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
90g pancetta dry-fried in a non-stick pan until crisp, to garnish

Method:

Trim the breasts from the chicken, skin them and set aside. Divide the remaining chicken carcass into about 10 pieces and place these in a large pan.

Take for or five of the outer celery sticks, split them in half and chop them before adding to the pan with the chicken and onion. Tie the bayleaf, parsley and tarragon together in a bundle and add this to the pan. Pour over the cold water, ensuring it covers all the ingredients then bring the mixture to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer, cover the pan and cook gently for 90 minutes or until the ingredients are tender. At this point remove the chicken pieces, strip the meat from the bones and set aside. Pour the stock through a fine-meshed sieve, return to the pan and bring to a rapid boil. Continue cooking until the volume has reduced to about 1.5l.

Set 150g of the leeks aside then chop the remaining leeks and the remaining celery (reserve the celery leaves, chopping them finely — use these to garnish the soup).

Melt half the butter in a large, heavy-based pan. Add the sliced leeks and celery then cover the pan and sweat the ingredients gently over low heat for about 10 minutes, or until softened but not browned. Add the potatoes, the wine and 1.2l of the stock.

Season to taste with salt and black pepper then bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, part-cover the pan and cook for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

In the meantime, cut the reserved chicken breasts into small pieces. Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan, add the chicken and fry for about 6 minutes, or until just cooked through.

Slice the reserved leaves thickly and add to the pan. Fry, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes more or until the leeks are just cooked. Turn the soup into a food processor and add the reserved cooked chicken meats (but not the breasts). Process until smooth and adjust the seasonings to taste. Thin with a little water if the soup looks a little thick.

Turn into a pan, heat through then stir in the cream and add the chicken breast meats and the leek mixture. Allow the soup to re-heat again (but do not boil). Ladle the soup into warmed bowls then crumble over the pancetta and sprinkle over the celery leaves.

Serve immediately.