Throwback: Spicy Chicken Soup (Sick Day Recipe)
Note: My house was recently hit with the flu. I discovered this post from my old blog and thought it seemed appropriate. Hope this post helps any cold and flu sufferers out there!
A few weeks ago, I came down with a nasty cold. Nashville had been struck with another snow/ice storm and of course, everything was shut down once again. C had gone out of town for business and was stuck in New England, so I was all by my lonesome self. Fortunately this time around I actually believed the weatherman when he announced another bout of the snow and ice was on its way, and I hopped over to the grocery store and stocked up before the storm.
My cold hit me with the same force as the weather did. It was sudden, and it shut my body down. Even though I had bought a variety of healthy foods to keep me occupied during my days in, I found I didn’t feel like they were what my body needed to feel better. I was craving orange juice, saltine crackers, Jello, (not all at once of course), and honest to god chicken soup. I knew once I’d had a bowl of spicy chicken soup I’d feel loads better, so I convinced myself to get out of bed and make the ambrosial concoction.
Ingredients:
***NO JUDGEMENT for not boiling the heck out of a whole, raw chicken, carefully seasoning it with spices, and babying it for 3 hours. I know how to do that, and lord knows it tastes way better and is supremely elegant when its finished, but I was sick ok ya’ll?! ***
Chicken stock (32 fl oz and pre-seasoned)
Chicken (I bought packaged pre-cooked and pre-sliced kind typically used for salads)
Baby carrots (whole bag)
Mushrooms (whole package)
Celery (one stalk, because frankly I don’t like celery that much)
1 glass of white wine (veering into Coq Au Vin Blanc territory here, but it’s a delicious addition)
Salt
Black Pepper
White pepper
Cayenne
Oregano
Garlic powder
Bonus: Sriracha (A little squirt of this potent Asian hot sauce in your steaming soup will cure what ails you!)
Performance:
I dragged my pathetic self out of bed and into the kitchen. I glugged the chicken stock into a large pan, and groaned pitifully and felt sorry for myself until it began to boil. Very carefully, attempting not to drip snot into my soup (Eww!) I added the chicken, baby carrots, mushrooms, and celery. The stock was already seasoned but it tasted kind of bland (maybe because I couldn’t breathe out of my nose, and therefore couldn’t taste) so I shimmied in some salt, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne, oregano, and garlic powder. I also added a glass full of white wine. Once all the ingredients had softened, I ladled some into a bowl, gave it a hefty squirt of Sriracha, plopped myself back into bed, started an episode of Gilmore Girls on Netflix, and slurped away. Though the weather was terrible outside and I missed C, I had a big bowl of spicy chicken soup all to myself—and that made me happy.
