I was totally prepared this morning, for my day at the 19^th Hole, I knew it would be wet and windy, and the cold would chill me to the bone, so I packed up my healthy lunch, filled my flask with homemade soup , grabbed a mandarina from the fruit bowl and  I was off.

On arrival my other half quickly dispatched me from the van, gave me my days instructions for work, and sped off, with my knapsack and lunch in tow !

I’ve been on a healthy eating regime now for 3 weeks, and it’s going great guns, so there was no way I wanted to sabotage my attempts, by consuming the snack bars chocolates and crisps that when you pop you cant stop ! But as the day progressed the faint rumbling of my tummy was becoming louder and my will power to deny myself of tempting treats was waning,

But low and behold, a rather wet looking Golf Pro, must have read my mind, or maybe my facebook and came up trumps, and delivered unto me, a steaming most delicious bowl of ‘Sopa de Picadillo’  The Spanish version of Chicken soup for the soul.

So I hid myself away, in my little hidey hole of the office, with Soup in hand, a squeeze of lemon from a lemon picked from the tree outside, a sprig of mint taken wild from the flora on the golf course, and I sat and devoured the warming, comforting and filling soup.

Sopa de picadillo, like many ancient, and family recipes that are passed down, taught and shared, have many guises, but this is my favourite…I hope you enjoy it,  a squeeze of lemon for me, adds a piquant touch and a little more vitamin C.

Sopa de picadillo

For the stock:

1 chicken carcass (leave plenty of spare meat on the bones)
1 ham bone (leave plenty of spare meat on the bones)
4 leeks
3 celery stalks
1 medium-sized onion
Salt, pepper to taste

For the soup:

2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 large spring fresh mint, chopped

A squeeze of lemon

Heat enough water to cover the first 2 ingredients in a cooking pot and add the chicken bones, ham bone and onion, cut into large pieces.

Cover the pot and cook on a low heat for between 2 to 3 hours or 40 minutes in a pressure cooker.

After this time, remove from the heat, take the chicken out of the stock, de-bone it, then de-bone the ham and set aside.

Strain the stock through a strainer and also set aside. Place the strained stock in a pan and heat, and when it is hot, add the diced ham and chicken meat and remaining vegetables.

Cook on a medium heat for 25 minutes, then just before serving, add the hard boiled eggs and mint; warm briefly and serve.

Serves 4-6