Best Trays of My Life (sorry...)

Last night, as Hubby was working a weird shift and wasn't home for supper, the boys and I needed a delicious Sunday dinner which would be light of cooking duties for yours truly. A full-on roast-and-trimmings is easier to manage when we are two; one (i.e. me) cooking the meal and the other occupied with child-wrangling. Such fun we have... As cooking in trays in the oven is definitely the easy option, this - not so much a one-pot supper as a two-trays feast, was the result.

To start off, I made some herb butter with tarragon, parsley and mint, then poked some of it under the skin of a chicken. I roasted another tray full of chunked-up leeks, carrots and potatoes, with the rest of the herb butter. As there were only three of us to eat, there were lots of leftovers. I stripped the meat from the chicken and made stock from the carcass this morning; these will go towards tomorrow night's dinner.

The leftover vegetables went to make this soup for lunch today - with boiling water to cover, I simmered the veg until very soft, added plenty of pepper (the secret- along with a shot of dry sherry - of a truly good vegetable soup, i feel), then whizzed it all in the blender. No work at all, really, and enough for two lunches, with cheese toasties on the side. Result, three clean bowls.