Food As Medicine Part 1

Christine went out to get a chicken, and I mustered enough strength to convert it into soup. This is a two-stage process, because I always like to make a good broth and then strain and tinker with it more depending on what it’s going to end up as. In this case, the chicken simmered with onion, carrot, celery, and parsley for a couple of hours. I reserved the “broth carrots” as Milo likes to call them (they’re his favorite) threw the rest of the vegetables in the compost, and put the chicken aside to cool.

To the strained broth I added a smashed thumb of ginger and a bunch of smashed garlic cloves and let it simmer more. I pulled the meat off the legs and shredded it. In a separate pot, I blanched some kale, then dumped a bundle of soba in to cook. Noodles, done, went in bowls, broth followed, and then chicken and kale. With a little soy sauce and copious homemade sambal we had us some industrial strength cold medicine. And it was delicious.

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6 Comments

  1. cook eat FRET
    October 1, 2008

    i am making this tomorrow. chicken is coming out of the freezer now.

  2. The Spiteful Chef
    October 2, 2008

    This looks fantastic. I’d have substituted sizzling rice for the soba and thrown in some wood ears and fresh water chestnuts out of obligation to nostalgia, but well executed all the same. Oh, and you think kids are Petrie dishes of rhinoviruses?! Try being married/engaged to a physician. He’s like a carrier monkey, and to add insult to injury, he passes the cold on without ever experiencing the symptoms himself due to his widespread immunities.

  3. peter
    October 2, 2008

    Claudia: Embrace your inner Grandmother.

    Spite: Yeah, I remembered the dried mushrooms too late. Normally I futz with this more, but I was low on enthusiasm. And just wait until you have kids…

  4. Zoomie
    October 2, 2008

    The garlic and ginger were a great addition – things you can taste even with a stuffy nose and healing to the rest of you! Hope the cold goes away fast!

  5. Brittany
    October 2, 2008

    gingery garlicky soup- that oughtta do ya. Glad you’re starting to feel better (as your most recent post proclaims)

  6. peter
    October 4, 2008

    Zoomie: Ginger and garlic make it all better.

    Brittany: Thanks. It could have been much worse.

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