My late summer cold has sadly prevented a trip to the Grant Farm’s Harvestival, which I had been greatly anticipating. The cold has improved today, no doubt due to the mega-antioxidant chicken soup I cooked up yesterday as an antidote. I would add here that I give great kudos to Harrison for cheerfully tolerating my sniffling, whining, chapped-lip and generally unattractive presence. Of course, he was the one who generously passed on this virus…So yesterday I was in no mood for anything but soup, so I pulled a frozen farmers’ market chicken out of the freezer and started on a pot of soup. This was sold as a pastured “Cornish Hen,” which is really just a smaller chicken of various crossbreeds, not always a hen, and…well, it was a really small chicken. Let’s leave it at that. I simmered the chicken whole in several quarts of water, until it was falling apart. I don’t season my stock until I remove the bird, so that there is no danger of over-concentrating the salt. I stripped off the meat and put it back in the pot with some preliminary seasonings:
Yes, I like Penzey’s. Their poultry seasoning has traditional herbs used for stuffing (sage, thyme, etc.) but no salt, which lets you control the salinity. I also added their shallot salt, which has a lovely shallot flavor that is handy when you don’t have the fresh item on hand. The tumeric was added for two reasons: to provide some of that pretty yellow color we associate with chicken soup, and to add a dose of anti-inflammatory, cold-kicking power. I put in a lot of tumeric.
I then chopped up my vegetables to throw in the pot, including some onion, flat leaf parsley, crimini mushrooms, and some stunningly gorgeous red carrots from Grant Farms:
I tossed these into the pot along with a hefty amount of crushed garlic (more of those antioxidants to kick the cold out), and simmered for 15 minutes to get the vegetables softened. Because I am a firm believer that chicken soup is not legit without some noodles, I then tossed in a couple of handfuls of No Yolks noodles and kept the pot going for another ten minutes, or until they were just cooked through. It made a really delicious and healing bowl of soup.
As far as potential mythologies go, I am all about the curative powers of chicken soup. If you add in the right antioxidants and eat it hot, it really does something great. I am feeling better today, and I am ready for another bowl of that soup.
Harrison is in the process of putting up a mini greenhouse so we can enjoy fresh greens deeper into the Colorado autumn, so I leave you with an image of phase one:
Thanks for reading!
Angela
Chicken soup and peppermint tea — my mantra when anyone isn't feeling well. I feel fine, but that soup looks so good I might just have to make a batch anyway!
My grandmother would be proud of you. She always made us chicken soup when we were ill. But nine years ago, when I had my right knee replaced, our Chinese graduate student brought me her traditional chicken soup recipe for those who are ill. She's from a part of China that believes in really hot peppers as an essential ingredient, so the soup wasn't at all like my Grandma Pearl's.
You should post the recipe! I would imagine hot peppers would help with sinus issues–hadn't thought of that.