Leek & Chicken Soup (GF, DF)

Hello! It's been a little while since I've posted anything, and that's mainly due to the fact that I've just moved to Canada from New Zealand. It's been a crazy couple of months of going on the most amazing trip to Torrent Bay in the Abel Tasman for Christmas, having a very fun engagement party with a lot of wonderful people, finishing up work, saying goodbye to a lot of friends and family, and definitely lots of packing. Now I'm back in Edmonton, and it's still a big adjustment - especially the season change of going from the middle of a beautiful, hot NZ summer to a snowy (and dark-forgot about that part) Alberta winter. So needless to say, it's been a pretty big change overall. I'm trying my very best to think of the good things about winter, however small - and one of these things is that it feels so great to make a big pot of delicious, warm and hearty soup. I love making recipes that involve throwing a whole bunch of healthy ingredients together! Here is one of my all-time favorite soup recipes, made with chicken drumsticks from Sunworks Farm which produces certified organic chicken, beef, eggs, turkey, bison, lamb and pork right here in Alberta. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Leek & Chicken Soup

Prep and Cooking Time: Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes
Serves: 4

Making the broth

Ingredients:
8 organic chicken drumsticks
2 carrots, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
1/2 bunch parsley
Approx. 30 grams of organic butter
2 medium-sized leeks, pale parts only
2 large potatoes
1/4 cup (55g) rice pasta

Instructions:
1. For the broth -  place the chicken, 1 carrot, 1 celery and half of the parsley in 12 cups of water in a large pan on high heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and summer for 1 hour so the chicken meat falls off the bones.

2. Strain the broth into a large heatproof bowl and set this aside for now. Discard the vegetables you've used for the broth, and when the chicken is cool enough, remove and discard the skin and bones. (You can soak the chicken in cold water to help it cool down more quickly). Tear the meat into small pieces and set aside.

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan on medium heat, and cook the leeks for 4-5 minutes until they are soft. Stir in the remaining carrot and celery, and add the potato then cook for 5 minutes.

Prepping my ingredients while the broth simmers

4. Add the pasta and reserved broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Add the chicken meat and summer for another 5 minutes, until the pasta is cooked (*hint - for cooking rice pasta, make sure you don't over-cook it by turning the heat off when the pasta is still a little firm and you should end up with perfect pasta.)

6. Serve with the remaining parsley, chopped and sprinkled on top.