Man Soup

I think that it’s entirely appropriate that my first bowl of  Man Soup was made by a man. I had a bad case of the cold, and was holed up under the covers feeling incredibly sorry for myself. I swear my life was flashing before my eyes, and I was absolutely starving, but wasn’t feeling up to cooking at all.

Enter the Man Soup – the modern man’s answer to sustenance, and bonus points if it’s made for a woman suffering from the man-cold!

Man Soup
Serves 4

1 pack soup vegetables (mine included an onion, a turnip, a couple of sticks of celery, a potato and a carrot)
200g mushrooms
250g ham hock meat
4 chicken marylands (or 1 whole chicken, segmented)
500ml (2 cups) chicken stock
Lemon juice, to serve
Fresh Parsley, to serve
Sriracha, to serve (optional)

Put the potatoes aside, and peel and cut the rest of the vegetables to a 1cm dice.

Place all of it into a large pot, and arrange the marylands over it.

Add chicken stock, a pinch of salt, and just enough water to cover the marylands.

Cover the pot and bring it to the boil.

Add the ham hock meat, lower the heat and simmer it for another 45 min. Top up with water if you need to.

Peel and dice potatoes, and add it to the pot.

Simmer for another 10-20 minutes, or till potatoes are cooked through.

If you want, shred the chicken meat and place it back into the soup for easier storage and serving.

Serve with a liberal dashing of lemon juice, chopped fresh parsley, and if you’re a chilli fan, a squeeze of sriracha.

Hearty and filling, this versatile soup is freezer friendly, and is easily adaptable to whatever you have on hand. Want to make it a fuller meal? Add some drained and rinsed canned kidney beans! Need more carbs? Simply break some spaghetti in half and simmer it in the soup when you put in the potatoes.

Forget chicken soup for the soul, try some Man Soup instead!