POTAGE BONNE FEMME
(Good Woman’s Thick Soup)
1 chicken carcass or chicken bones with some meat left on them
2 large potatoes, thinly peeled and cut into 1” chunks or unpeeled and cut into 1/2” chunks
2 medium leeks, cut vertically, washed and cut into 1” pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried or 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried or 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon coarsely, freshly ground pepper
4 cups water
2 cups milk and salt to taste
Put everything but the milk into a Dutch oven or large kettle. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer one hour. Cool, remove chicken bones, pick off the meat and return it to the kettle.
Whizz the soup — two cupfuls at a time — in a blender or whip it vigorously in the pot with an eggbeater till the individual ingredients nearly disappear. Reheat the mixture to just boiling and add the milk. Stir, taste and add more salt if needed.
If you’re in a hungry hurry, don’t bother with the blender or eggbeater. Just take out the bones and serve the golden, aromatic broth generously filled with bites of chicken, potato and leek with squares of pale green leek tops floating on top. Either way, the soup — with garlic toast, cheese and fresh apples — should make a meal for six people.