whisks' chicken and sweetcorn soup

since there was sweetcorn and chicken in the fridge i thought it might be nice to have some chicken and sweetcorn soup made from scratch. obvious choice, eh?

the potatoes thicken the soup nicely and whilst the soup looks and tastes nice and creamy, there isn't any cream. very comforting.

3 potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 cobs sweetcorn, shucked
vegetable stock concentrate to taste
1 litre water
1 double breat of chicken, cut in small cubes

place the potatoes and sweetcorn kernels in the thermomix bowl and blitz on speed 10 for 10 seconds. add the stock concentrate and water and cook the soup on speed 3 at 100 degrees for 17 minutes. add the chicken and continue cooking for another 2 minutes at 100 degrees on speed 3.

vegetable stock concentrate revisited.

i feel like i've been making this by the bucketload. everyone wants it even though i give them the recipe. it's all a matter of proportions. i use a kilo of aromatic vegetables and herbs. the combination is endless. vegetables i like using are onions, garlic, celery, swedes, parsnips, leeks. the herbs i use are whatever i can get from the garden: parsley, rosemary, basil, sage, tarragon, marjoram, thyme and bay leaves. to this, i add 200 grams of sea salt and a really generous amount of oil. i whack it all into the thermomix and blitz until chopped. cook it for 20-30 minutes at 100 degrees celcius on speed 3, blitz until smooth and pour into clean containers. this keeps in the fridge for 6 months as the salt acts as a preservative (this is what i've been told, but i wouldn't know because mine gets all used up before i get to the expiry date).

it's so much better than a stock cube because you know what goes into it and there isn't any msg, but mind you, it give such a kick to the things you cook you'd think it was.