Chicken (or Turkey) and Vegetable Soup

Food blogs and the TV seem full of 'Credit Crunch' recipes. No, don't be daft, not recipes to cause a 'credit crunch', recipes to use the leftovers and cheaper foods! Bubble and Squeak seems to be the major one featured, but I've already posted about that ages ago, here.

One of our favourite 'free' foods is soup using stock made with the leftover carcass of a chicken, or at his time of the year, turkey.

We usually make this in the pressure cooker, but the method's the same in a normal pan, just cook it for about 2½/3 hours.

For the stock:
The carcass from a cooked chicken (keep any leftover meat for later).
A Carrot, Onion, Stick of celery, A few sprigs of herbs.
None of the flavourings are set in stone! Add mushroom stalks, tomato, root veg (but not greens), as you wish. Cover with water, Cook in the pressure cooker for ½ hour (following maker's instructions), or simmer in a saucepan. Strain.

The soup:
Add chopped leftover veg to the stock, along with any of the veg from the stock if it looks OK, otherwise chop some more veg and add it, simmer until the veg is cooked, then add any leftover chicken and heat through thoroughly. Thicken the soup, I used potato flour mixed with a little water; you could use cornflour in the same way. You can also use leftover mashed potato or liquidise a portion, or all, of the soup.

Serve with home-made cheese and onion rolls.