Made this traditional Scottish soup for the first time a couple of nights ago. Ma-a-n, is it BORING! It’s not bad, just pointless. I kept adding salt and pepper to it but to no avail. I like leeks. I like celery. Chicken is alright. Put it all together – zzzzz. I heated up the leftovers today for my lunch. I was starvin’ hungry but after two mouthfuls I wasn’t certain I could be bothered to chew anymore. I’ve eaten bland things before but this is just…. ennui in a bowl.

If you like boring ass food, here is the recipe. It makes a generous portion for one so just scale up accordingly.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken thighs, skin removed
• 1/2 onion
• 25 g. of pearl barley, cooked
• 1/3 stock cube
• 100 g. of leek, sliced
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 pinch of dried thyme
• 1 tbs of fresh parsley, chopped

Method

Place the chicken, sliced onion and barley in a saucepan and cover with 300ml (12fl ozs) water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

When cool enough to handle, discard the chicken bones, chop meat into bite-sized pieces and return to the pan.

Add the crumbled stock cube, sliced leeks and celery and thyme, and simmer for a further 30 minutes.

Stir in the chopped parsley just before serving.

Be careful not to lose consciousness directly over the bowl in case you drown in it.