Chicken and root vegetable soup

This turned curiously solid in the fridge (to much merriment) but was authentically soupy by the time we'd reheated it for tea.

You'll need:

chicken stock, preferably with some nice largeish pieces of chicken in it
half a turnip (you can tell it's winter at the moment)
a couple of sticks of celery
an onion, sliced
a potato or two, chopped
a carrot or two, ditto
a handful of pearl barley
lots of black pepper and dried thyme

Sweat the onion and celery gently in a pan for 5 minutes with a little olive oil. Once the onion's softened, add the potato, carrot and turnip, and swish about for a minute or two. Pour in the stock, add the pearl barley, and season with thyme and black pepper. Leave on the hob for however long you've got - you need at least half an hour or so until the turnip and potato has cooked right through.

I stuck this in the blender, but that's just because I much prefer drinking soup to eating it.

Chicken and root vegetable stew

I tried doing this in the slow cooker that Gran and Grandpa gave us for Christmas...it's dead easy to use, but it turned out a little like soup. So beware - reduce the liquid if you're going down that route.

You'll need:

leftover cooked chicken (say hello, Christmas capon)
an onion, sliced
a couple of potatoes, peeled and chopped into small cubes
a couple of carrots (ditto)
half a small swede/turnip (ditto)
a parsnip (ditto)
some leftover white wine (about half a glass)
vegetable stock (I made mine from some stock powder and hot water)
dried thyme, black pepper and a little salt

Fry the onion in a little olive oil until it softens. Chuck into a stew pot, or slow cooker, and add all the other vegetables and chicken. Season with the herbs, pepper and salt. Add whatever leftover white wine you have in the house/freezer, and top up the liquid with some vegetable stock, until the mixture is covered.

Stick a lid on, and put in the slow cooker for 4-6 hours on high (but leave off the lid for the last half hour or so, or you'll have soup), or in the oven (at about 160) for a couple of hours until the vegetables are soft.

If you don't have many potatoes, and you like a slightly thicker stew, you could add some pearl barley or spelt as well.