The Best Chicken Soup Recipe Ever!

An ex-boyfriend's mum once told me that you can judge whether someone can cook by the quality of their chicken soup. No, she wasn't Jewish, but she was a great cook. I've tried a hundred different recipes for said benchmark dish but then today, just when I was messing about, I made the best chicken soup I have ever made. Here it is. If anyone can tell me which is the step that makes it so good, I'll be all agog to hear. (If you hate it, just keep your gob shut, would you?)

You'll need:

500g chicken wings
2 large leeks chopped into 1cm rings
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4 medium carrots chopped into 1cm rings
1 large potato chopped into 1cm cubes
1 hot chilli finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3cm piece of fresh ginger finely grated
300g jar/tin of cooked chick peas
2 tbsp chopped, dried thyme
50g salted butter
juice of 1 lemon
250ml full cream milk

Method:

1. Place the chicken wings in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and skim off the scummy foam on top of the water. Remove the wings immediately and run under a cold tap to cool them them pat them dry with kitchen paper. Keep the water to one side.
2. In another large soup pan melt the butter and add the leeks, onion, garlic, carrots, ginger and chilli. Cook gently until the onion goes transparent then add the chicken wings, thyme and the water from step 1. Bring the pan to the boil and cook vigorously for 15 mins or until the liquid has reduced in volume by half.
3. Turn down the heat and add the chick peas and potato and then add more boiling water to double the volume. Cover and simmer for 30 mins.
4. Take the pan off the heat and remove the chicken wings and around a third of the vegetables. Place these on one side and then use a hand blender to whiz the soup down until it's completely smooth.
5. When they're cool enough to handle, remove all the meat and skin from the chicken wings and return it to the soup along with the vegetables you removed at the same time.
   
6. Add salt to taste and the lemon juice and milk. Serve straight away with a bit of crusty bread.
   

I promise you that this is one of the best chicken soups you'll ever taste...and cheap? Ni hablar, as they say round here.