Chicken, Kumara & Corn Soup with Rocket Pesto

A reduction to the weekly grocery bill, no wastage, and a trip to Italy. A great combination!  This is the recipe I created to enter a competition to find a new soup flavour for a La Zuppa. Rather than just suggest the flavour I decided to also create and test it to be sure it was a winning combination. It is! You can read about the win here. This flavour was selected from over 2000 entries and is now sold on Australian supermarket shelves. Yes, I do pinch myself when I think of this. 

This soup recipe came about as the result of an attempt to reduce our grocery bill and make better use of ingredients available. I purchased an organic free range chicken on sale last week. It was used to make three meals (two family meals and a children’s meal) from the one bird. We ate a variety of meals at a low cost, with no wastage. Note: my children are young so our serve sizes are currently not huge. 

I have only recently been using this type of method when buying chicken. I had previously purchased the cut of the bird that I required for a recipe. In addition to the reduced cost, a purchasing a whole bird means I am more creative with my recipes.  The addition of the rocket pesto was based on the excess I currently have available to harvest from the vegetable garden. The included parsley and coriander in this recipe also came from the garden to add an additional fresh burst of flavour. 

Herbs are simple to grow and take up very little space.  I love being able to collect a handful of what ever I need to add to meals each night. If you are yet to begin growing herbs at home grab a free copy of my Seasonal Planting Guide to ensure you are set up for successful garden harvests. Get yours here.

Do you buy and use a whole bird? I would love to hear what you make.

The meals that I made were:

• Meal one: I used the breasts to make Chicken and Haloumi Skewers for dinner.

• Meal two: for the kids – I used the basting sauce I made for the skewers to marinate the drumsticks and served them with vegetables
• Meal three: Chicken, Kumara and Corn Soup with Rocket Pesto

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Chicken Soup - Using Left Over Chicken

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 10 mins

 

Servings: 4

Author: Kyrstie Barcak - A Fresh Legacy

Ingredients

• 400 grams chicken - sliced or diced
• 1 kumara peeled and chopped into pieces (sweet potato)
• 2 fresh garlic cloves
• 2 cm fresh ginger
• handful fresh parsley , including the stalks
• handful fresh coriander , including the roots (if available)
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper to season
• 1 fresh corn cob with the kernels sliced off

Rocket Pesto

• 1/2 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons heaped of Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons good quality olive oil
• 80 grams fresh rocket leaves

Instructions

1. To make the soup add the chicken, kumara, garlic, ginger, parsley and coriander to a large soup pot and then add the water
2. Bring to a simmer and then season with salt and pepper

3. Cook on a simmer for approximately 45 minutes

4. Add the corn kernels and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes
5. To make the pesto put all of the ingredients into a small blender and pulse until combined into a paste
6. Taste the soup and add more seasoning if required before removing from the heat

7. Remove the stalks of the herbs from the pot

8. (Optional) Use a masher to mash the kumara pieces until they are smooth and thicken the soup
9. Serve with a dollop of the pesto

Hints and Tips:

I segmented the chicken raw and allocated it to the meals I had planned, If you chose to roast the whole chook for a meal you could use the carcass in this recipe and add the left over roast chicken meat at the end.  Alternatively, add diced chicken pieces if you prefer.

Don’t forget to get your free copy of the Seasonal Planting Guide so you can begin to harvest herbs as needed for family meals.

*The format and images of this post were updated 31/05/2016 while dreaming of Italy. This is one of our favourite soup recipes. All the more so as it was the recipe that won my partner and I a trip to Italy.