Cock-a-leekie Scottish Chicken Soup #SoupSaturdaySwappers

Welcome to Soup Saturday Swappers - our event is led by Wendy of A Day in the Life on Farm! Are you interested in joining this great group of Soup Swappers? Request to join our Facebook group here. 

This month Sidsel of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking invited us to make and share a soup that was linked to our ancestry! This gave me lots of different options, of course. I'm very much a European / Scandinavian mix - heavy on the mix. We grew up with a lot of Irish heritage discussion, but when my brother dug more into our actual ancestry discovered we were much more Scottish than Irish. So, I decided to look at some Scottish soup recipes, and I really didn't have to search far. The name of this one alone sold me.

This is a wonderfully easy, light, flavorful soup. You could easily use bone in meat, and shred it and discard the bones after the initial 1-hour simmer. I happened to have boneless chicken thawed, so I went ahead and used it. You could swap diced potatoes for barley as well. I happen to usually have some quick cooking barley in the pantry or I definitely would have tried this one with potato. It's something I imagine eating on a chilly day, or when you're not feeling well. It's so fabulously easy with delicious results! 

See all of our heritage soup dishes for today!

• Apong Meling's Sinigang from Culinary Adventures with Camilla;
• Blomkål- og ostesuppe (Cauliflower and Cheese Soup) from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Chach- A Dessert Soup - East Indian from Sneha's Recipe
• Cock-a-leekie Scottish Chicken Soup from Making Miracles
• Mulligatawny Soup from Magical Ingredients
• Scottish Red Lentil Soup from Pandemonium Noshery
• Ticinese Minestrone from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Cock-a-leekie Scottish Chicken Soup

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, diced

5 cups water

1 small onion, chopped

2 TBS quick cooking barley

1 14-oz can chicken broth

2 large leeks, white and light green part only, diced into thin rounds

2 stalks celery, diced

1 tsp thyme, dried

1 TBS chopped fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, more to taste

Directions

1. Combine the raw chicken with the water and diced onion in a medium soup pot. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to a low simmer and cover. Simmer for 1 hour.
2. Add in all remaining ingredients and simmer another 15-20 minutes, until barley and vegetables are tender. Add a little more broth if too much simmers off during cooking (keep an eye on the liquid level). Taste, and adjust the seasonings to your preferred level.
3. Serve and enjoy! 

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes