It’s been a while. Life has been busy. I haven’t cooked much worth bragging about for a while, and if I have, I haven’t had time to brag.
But I’ve made some pretty good birthday cakes lately, and I fully intend to blog them sometime soon. So I may as well get back into the habit, right?
It’s Sunday. The day of couldn’t-be-bothered-cooking-spectacular meals. Nigelbrews and I both have sore throats and runny noses. He has man-flu. I have the common cold. So I decided it was time for some chicken soup.
For those playing along at home, here’s what I used:
EVOO
2 chicken marylands (because it’s so much tastier to cook soup with meat on the bone) – I seasoned them with Himalayan rock salt to crisp up the skin
1 chicken breast fillet (skin off)
3 cloves garlic (I told you we had colds, LOL)
1 sliced brown onion
3 carrots, roughly chopped
3 sticks celery, ditto
The soggy mushrooms at the bottom of the fridge (about 6-8)
A splash of red wine (mine was alcohol-free shiraz)
A splash of soy sauce, and some sesame oil if you like (I do 😀 )
2L good quality chicken stock (I use Massel because it’s actually vegan, which means it’s dairy free, as well as being gluten free anyway). And yes, I appreciate the irony of seeking out vegan stock to cook my chicken soup, LOL.
Some cauliflower florets.
The lone pak choy or bok choy (is it politically incorrect to say I always confuse these two?) languishing in the bottom of the crisper
2 cubes of frozen spinach
I think that’s it.
So I fried off the marylands until they were brown and the bottom of the pan was sticky with chicken juices. In with the garlic and onions, out with the chicken, in with the carrots, celery, mushrooms, sweat all that off for a while, and then a splash of wine (white would probably go better with chicken, but I was aiming for a French feel) and soy (OK, fusion). Let that reduce a wee bit, put the chicken back in, add the stock (more or less as you prefer) and bring to the boil. Add cauliflower, cook for a few minutes, and then reduce to simmer. After everything is close to cooked, add very thinly sliced chicken breast, Asian greens and spinach cubes, and turn off the heat. Put lid on, and let it cook through. I let mine sit for about half an hour because nigelbrews likes the flavours to develop.
We’re just about to eat – I added a squeeze of lemon juice, which I think made the flavour pop a little. And I might add some sesame oil, some Himalayan salt and cracked pepper. I’ll take out the Marylands, cut them into pieces, and serve him a full piece, myself a thigh (because it’s my favourite part of the chicken) and give the extra drumstick to my favourite child.
I think we’ll get a good 6 serves from it altogether, although the future serves won’t include as much chicken.
Chicken soup. Good for the soul. It would be good for the waistline, too, without the skin, right? 😉
pennicooks 