30 days / 30 things Day 22

Still playing catch up, this week has been a shocker on so many different levels ! So now, sitting here catching up on Sky+ and my blog !

Day 22 is another food memory. As I mentioned in my last blog one of my food memories is being fed chicken soup when I was ill. It was always Heinz cream of chicken and even now eating Heinz chicken soup takes me back to being on the sofa under a blanket. Even when I came home from university with a terrible case of tonsillitis aged 23, I was still being fed chicken soup !

The other night I was tired, feeling run down and in need of some comforting, healing food. I wanted something quick, easy but healthy and restorative so I turn to chicken noodle soup. I had two chicken carcasses in the freezer (ok, I KNOW it sounds gross but I save them up until I have enough to make a good batch of stock) and I'd made some stock the day before and not got around to freezing it. What I ended up with was a steaming bowl of broth with chicken, noodles and veg - just what I was after. Not quite Heinz cream of chicken but just as warming.

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
serves 2-3

For the stock
1 chicken carcass
2 carrots, 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic and 2 sticks of celery
Salt and black peppercorns
Parsley stalks
Water to cover

Put the chicken carcass, vegetables, seasoning and herbs in large pot.
Cover with water and bring to the boil, simmer for at least 1-1.5 hours
Leave to cool and skim off the fat

For the soup
2 chicken breasts
2-3 star anise
Knob of fresh ginger shredded
2 cloves of garlic finely sliced
handful of baby corn halved and sliced down the length
Bunch of spring onions cut into chunks leave some to shred for a garnish
Salt and pepper to taste or use soy sauce
2 bundles of ramen noodles
2 pak choi leaves and stems separated and sliced

Simmer the chicken breasts, star anise, garlic and ginger with the chicken stock until the chicken breasts are nearly cooked. Remove and shred, add back to the pan.
Then add the veg (apart from the pak choi leaves) and the ramen noodles cook for 4 minutes
Taste for seasoning and then add the pak choi greens and cook for another minute
Serve in bowls with the broth spooned over and garnish with shredded spring onions.