Hearty Smoky Bacon and Chicken Chowder

When you have a busy day running around dropping children off at various activities and picking up needing to be in about 3 places at once, you know the feeling I am sure, all you want to do at the end of the day is slip your shoes off and settle down around the table to a comforting, warming filling soup. This really recharges the batteries served with some warm, fresh, crusty bread, dripping with butter  which is just crying out for a dunking. When the aroma of this cooking starts to fill the house, the table will never have been occupied quicker!

Hearty Smoky Bacon and Chicken Chowder

100g Cooked Smoked Chicken, diced
100g Smoked Pancetta
Olive Oil
1 Onion
1 Stick Celery
1 Large Potato diced
800ml Water
100g Sweetcorn (tinned is fine)
100ml Single Cream

1. Fry the pancetta until crispy and set aside on kitchen paper.
2. Sweat the onion and celery for as long as possible, this gives the great flavour. At least 5 minutes until soft but not brown.
3. Add the potato and water and simmer until the potato is almost cooked. About 10-15 minutes.
4. Add the sweetcorn and cook for a further 5-7 minutes.
5. Add the chicken, bacon and cream and stir through until completely warm. Add pepper to taste but salt won't be needed.

I usually blitz with a stick blender at the end of step 4 to have a smooth soup with bacon and chicken bits in. Of, course you could also blitz the whole lot at the end if little ones prefer a smoother consistency or even at the end of step 3, to leave whole sweetcorn which bursts with sweetness in each mouthful. The choice is yours, so long as you give it a go!