Chicken Soup for Cheaters (Sick & Lazy Chicken Soup)

Remember when you were small & you got a cold? You were convinced you might just die but someone was always there for you putting a cool reassuring hand on your forehead, rubbing vapo rub on your chest & making you chicken soup.

When I think about it now, being sick when I was a child was somewhat of a luxury. I never felt more loved.

Unfortunately when you grow up getting sick is not quite so comforting. You need to clean up your own mountains of used tissues & sick buckets, rub your own vapo rub, naively try to recreate that cool comforting hand on your forehead with moist washcloths & perhaps most upsetting if you’re all alone & sick you need to make your own chicken soup.

I have been disgustingly sick this week. I spent last Saturday night with some friends celebrating a mate’s 26th Birthday which resulted in late night/early morning karaoke. Two of us who were in that private karaoke booth have come down with what appears to be the bubonic plague. Due to extreme lethargy I had also failed to properly clean my wooden cutting board which I had used to clean squid & prawns on the weekend & when I used it to cut up an orange in search of some vitamin C, I think may have also given myself a mild case of food poisoning. (Lucky me) Prior to making this super simple, nourishing & tasty soup I hadn’t really eaten a meal in 2 days.

Either have your partner/friend/ neighbour grab a few simple ingredients from the market for you or drag yourself- pale, unwashed & unmade-up..hiding beneath oversized sunglasses & unkempt hair into the wide world to get it yourself. In business they always talk about short term loss for long term gain. Lazy chicken soup is one of those situations, it makes you feel better, I promise.

Using a good free range rotisserie chicken saves you hours in the kitchen, you just pull it apart with your fingers or a fork & drop it in the pan. This is more of a guide than a recipe. Really use whatever veggies you like & I would not poo poo prechopped onions & garlic in this situation. Using the leftover corn cobb & chicken juices really add tonnes of extra flavour without any extra effort. It is all about quick (it only took me 15 minutes) nourishing gratification.

Chicken Soup For Cheaters

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken flesh (skin removed & juices from the bag reserved)
• 800ml good chicken stock (preferably homemade)
• 2 sticks of celery roughly diced
• 2 carrots roughly diced
• small bunch of spring onions cut into 2 inch batons
• 1 cup potatoes finely diced
• 1 golden eschalot finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 cobb of corn, kernels removed reserving the cobb
• 1 cup cabbage thinly sliced
• 1 tsbp extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt & cracked pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over high heat & add all the veggies  & the corn cobb but the cabbage. Stir to wilt all the vegetables (about 3 minutes) & then add the stock & rotisserie chicken juices, bring to the boil & then reduce heat to medium & leave covered until the potato is just cooked through.
2. Add the cabbage & chicken to the pot & cook for a further 3 minutes.
3. Season to taste then remove the corn cobb & ladle into your favorite bowl or mug & enjoy with crusty bread.
4. Feel better & write me a lovely email to say thank you for such an easy chicken soup recipe.

Makes about 4-6 servings

(Put any leftovers in the freezer once it’s cool for future soup emergencies)