My sister is sick with a horrible flu at the moment and food is not at all appealing. So I went to the supermarket, pushing Harry in one of those trolly chairs – which he was very amused with, and grabbed some organic chicken and as many nutritious vegetables as I could find. Chicken soup is a cliche when you’re sick, but there really is nothing better. This is the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 leek, halved, washed, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 large carrot, peeled, diced
• 2 sticks celery, diced
• 2 small zucchini, diced
• ½ tin creamed corn
• 1 tin chickpeas
• 8 cups chicken stock, homemade, or bought
• 1kg skinless chicken legs

Method

Step 1

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until soft. Add carrot, celery, zucchini and chickpeas. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in stock and chicken. Increase heat to high. Bring to the boil -

Step 2

Reduce heat to low. Simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender (add creamed corn after 45minutes) -

Step 3

Remove chicken legs from soup. Allow to cool slightly. Remove meat from bones. Roughly chop chicken meat and add to soup. Season with salt and pepper. Serve or freeze -