Slow-Cooker Cock-a-Leekie Soup

More About This Recipe

• It may have the funniest name for a soup you've ever heard, but it's actually tasty – and fun to serve!
  
  I dare you to say the name of this soup three times and not crack a smile. It’s impossible! It’s the funniest soup name I’ve ever heard, which I guess isn’t saying that much.
  
  The history of this soup goes back many centuries. It’s a traditional soup from Medieval times and gets its odd name from its two main ingredients: Chicken and leeks.
  
  Some things stand the tests of time and Cock-a-Leekie Soup is one of those things. It’s peasant food at its core, but perfectly simple to make and great on a cold winter night.
  
  This soup really has no exotic ingredients. All of the things are basic and can be found in any supermarket. I’ve adapted this version for a slow cooker to make it even easier to make.
  
  If you’ve never worked with leeks before, they have a light onion flavor. Sometimes you want to dice them tiny for recipes, but for this soup you want to leave the leeks in large coins, which makes them easy to slice.
  
  When you are slicing them, just go up until the leeks turns a light green color. Don’t go too far up the stalk or the veggie will get stringy.
  
  To start the soup, just add the ingredients to a slow cooker. In my opinion, the most important ingredient (besides the chicken and the leeks) is a big strip or two of lemon peel. This gives the soup a light lemon flavor as it cooks.
  
  Add Progresso chicken broth to the slow cooker and enough water to almost cover the chicken. Depending on the size of your slow cooker, you might need a cup or two of water.
  
  Cover this and cook it on low heat for about four hours. Then remove the chicken and shred it into large chunks.
  
  Add the shredded chicken back to the slow cooker along with some pearled barley.
  
  Cover the soup again and let it cook for another two hours so the barley softens. Then serve it up garnished with parsley!
  
  Doesn’t get easier than that! Go forth, young cooks, and spread the cock-a-leekie word.
  
  Nick thinks this is the funniest name of any recipe ever! Check out his blog, Macheesmo, and follow him on his Tablespoon Profile.