Mark Hix recipe: Chicken, mushroom and wild garlic broth

Serves 4

Seasonal: Chicken, mushroom and wild garlic broth (Jason Lowe)

I've used seasonal St George's mushrooms here, but, if you can't get those, you could use cultivated oyster mushrooms, or similar.

4 free-range chicken thighs, skinned
1 chicken stock cube dissolved in 1.5ltrs boiling water
10 black peppercorns
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
10g dried sliced porcini mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 1 hour
100g button mushrooms, sliced
A couple of sprigs of thyme
Salt and ground black pepper

To serve

150g wild mushrooms, such as St George's or oyster mushrooms
10-12 wild garlic leaves, washed and torn in half
The cooked chicken thighs

Remove the bones from the chicken thighs and put them in a saucepan with the chicken meat and all of the other ingredients for the broth.

Bring to the boil, skim, season and then simmer very gently for a further 1 hour, skimming every so often.

Strain the broth through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean pan. Once cool enough to handle, dice up the chicken thighs and put to one side (cut them lengthways if they are thick).

Cut the mushrooms into similar-sized pieces as the chicken, or leave whole if they are small, and add to the broth with the cooked chicken. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes, add the wild garlic and season to taste. Serve immediately.