The Healing Power of Chicken Soup

As the cold weather sends a chill through your bones, there is nothing more comforting than coming home to a hot bowl of chicken soup. It has long been an old wives tale that chicken soup is the perfect remedy when you feel the sniffles coming on.

Historians have discovered that chicken soup was prescribed in Ancient Egypt for people suffering colds. In more recent times a medical researcher in the USA has found evidence to suggest that chicken soup can help fight colds by helping your body produce anti-inflammatory agents.

Eating hot soup also helps clear congestion in the sinuses. Whether you are sick or not, chicken soup is a favourite of young and old in the winter months. This comfort food is healthy and easy to digest, making it a great meal for every family.

Try this great chicken noodle soup recipe for a healthy, delicious meal!

 

Chicken Noodle Soup (serves 4)

If you are having a barbequed or roast chicken for dinner, keep the chicken carcass plus some skin, fat and skerricks of meat, and reserve at least half a breast of meat to make soup for another meal.

You can add any vegetables you like to the finished soup to give your meal some extra bulk and nutrition. Just add extra vegetables when sauteing the green onions (step 10) according to cooking time needed.

This soup can be made and frozen for the days when you just can’t muster the energy to put together a meal.

Ingredients

1 BBQ or roast chicken carcass (plus some meat, skin & fat)
½ cooked chicken breast (kept over from the bbq or roast chicken dinner)
25g salted butter or ¼ cup vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped into quarters
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 leek, carefully washed and roughly chopped
2 sticks celery including leaves, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons black pepper corns
1.5 litres water (or enough to cover chicken in the pot)
Salt (to season according to taste)
2 green onions (chinese shallots), finely chopped
100g thin spaghetti (eg. angel hair, linguine) broken into 5cm long strands
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Fresh crusty bread
1 stock pot or large saucepan (2 litre plus)

Method

  1. Dice chicken breast meat and reserve
  2. In a stock pot saute onion, carrot, celery, leek, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns in butter or oil until onion starts to turn translucent
  3. Add chicken caracass with skin, fat and meat to pot
  4. Cover chicken with water
  5. Bring to boil then adjust heat to simmer for an hour and a half
  6. Taste to check for seasoning, add salt if required
  7. Sieve liquid into a bowl and discard solids
  8. Sit the bowl of liquid in a larger bowl or sink half full of cold water
  9. Wait for crust to form at the top of the liquid, skim crust and discard – you now have chicken stock
  10. Wash out stock pot. In the clean pot saute green onions and add any extra vegetables as you prefer
  11. Add cooled stock, bring to boil
  12. Add spaghetti, boil covered, stirring occasionally, until spaghetti is nearly cooked
  13. Add the diced chicken breast and heat through
  14. Serve soup with a sprinkle of parsley and fresh crusty bread