Chicken, Kumara & Corn Soup with Rocket Pesto

I purchased an organic free range chicken on sale last week and made three meals (two family meals and a children’s meal) using the whole bird. It was a small chicken at just over 1 kg. We ate a variety of meals at a low cost, with no wastage.

I have only recently been using this type of method when buying chicken and I find it works well. I had previously purchased the cut of the bird that I required for a recipe. Purchasing a whole bird means I am more creative with my recipes and the cost of the meal is lower.

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

Chicken Soup - Using Left Over Chicken

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

Author: Kyrstie Barcak - A Fresh Legacy

Serves: 4

Ingredients

400 grams of chicken - sliced or diced
1 kumara (sweet potato) peeled and chopped into pieces
2 fresh garlic cloves
2 cm piece of fresh ginger
handful of fresh parsley, including the stalks
handful of fresh coriander, including the roots (if available)
2 cups of water
4 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to season
1 fresh corn cob with the kernels sliced off
Rocket Pesto:
½ garlic clove
1 tablespoon of pine nuts
2 heaped tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons of good quality olive oil
80 grams of fresh rocket leaves

Instructions

To make the soup add the chicken, kumara, garlic, ginger, parsley and coriander to a large soup pot and then add the water
Bring to a simmer and then season with salt and pepper
Cook on a simmer for approximately 55 minutes
Add the corn kernels and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes
To make the pesto put all of the ingredients into a small blender and pulse until combined into a paste
Taste the soup and add more seasoning if required before removing from the heat
Remove the stalks of the herbs and the chicken carcass from the pot. Remove any chicken meat from the carcass and return it to the pot
(Optional) Use a masher to mash the kumara pieces until they are smooth and thicken the soup
Serve with a dollop of the pesto

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Hints and Tips:

I segmented the chicken raw and allocated it to the meals I had planned, If you chose to roast the chook you could use the carcass in the same way I have outlined in this recipe and add the left over roast chicken meat at the end.

Do you buy a whole chicken or buy it in the pieces you need for a recipe?

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