I love the holidays! All the presents and surprises and baking and the wonderful smells of the Christmas tree, cookies and the simmering glogg. I love the visiting children, home from college, who bring viruses and pestilence from the gelid North. I love the cold that The Pouting Princess brought home to me. Nothing says loving like a wheezing sneezing cold! I’ve plowed through about 4 boxes of Kleenex and a vat and a half of chicken soup and I think I am finally on the mend. Winter colds are inevitable, luckily you might only have to wait yours out for a couple of days on the sofa with a fat cat and a good book, sipping lemonade and eating Saltines, napping fitfully. There are many helpful and tasty recipes floating around the ether, ripe for the picking.
Rummage in the Pantry Chicken Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups cooked chicken, in bite-sized cubes (I hope you are using organic chicken from Chestertown Natural Foods!)
6 cups chicken broth or stock
2 cups cooked rice
Salt and pepper
Chopped fresh parsley, strictly for decoration
1. Heat a large pot or a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add butter. When melted, add onion, celery, and carrot. Sauté until onion is clear and carrots softened. Add garlic, sauté for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add chicken. Stir and cover. Cook for 5 minutes. Add chicken broth. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Serve with Saltines.
4. Go back to bed
Here is Nigella’s take, using Matzo Balls: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/chicken-soup-recipe/index.html
Here is a Crock Pot version: https://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1639,156182-243203,00.html
And a spicy tortilla soup: https://southernfood.about.com/od/chickensouprecipes/r/bl41107a.htm
That will clear out your sinuses!
And a New York deli variation: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Soup-108014
“In January it’s so nice,
While slipping on the sliding ice,
To sip hot chicken soup with rice.
Sipping once, sipping twice,
Sipping chicken soup with rice.”
–Maurice Sendak
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