Soul Soup for a Chicken

That is what I felt like last week ..all cooped up in my room with a nasty cold. My words sounding like 'cluck cluck' or even less coherent. Since I had been trying to rid my pantry of all processed foods , there was nothing I had that could be shoved in the microwave for a hot dinner so I decided to experiment with soup cooked from scratch. Not only did it turn out to be the best soup I have ever made .... this chicken could pretty much fly after the last drop hit the back of my sore throat.

Soul Soup:

What you need:

About half a pound of frozen or fresh chicken with bones (wings , legs, thighs ..the works).
Three chopped carrots , six chopped stalks of celery , one large diced onions , four cloves of garlic, six sprigs of thyme, soy sauce , chili sauce , patience.

How to make it:

In a large pot with six cups of water add the chicken with three pinches of salt and pepper and bring to a boil on high heat.
Once the water has been boiling for about a minute, add the celery, carrots , onions , garlic , thyme and reduce the heat to medium ..cook a further 20 minutes.
Extract the chicken and discard the thyme. Pull chicken from bone with a fork or fingers and reintroduce the bare bones to the pot...cook a further 20 minutes.
Extract the bones for the last time and blend the contents of the pot in batches to a smooth consistency.
In the last batch add about a fifth of the pulled chicken , a pinch of salt and pepper and blend away.
Introduce all blended batches with rest of the pulled chicken back to the pot and add a couple dashes of soy sauce and red chili sauce ( adding a little extra soul to the soup) and adjust the seasoning.

Serve hot and top it up with shredded parmesan and spring onions.

p.s: I didn't actually fly , but I did feel rejuvenated enough to walk across the street to the pharmacy to buy cough syrup.

Pasta alla Valentine

In his book 'Kitchen Confidential' Tony Bourdain brags about secret ingredients that restaurants use to make restaurant food taste... well 'restauranty'. One of those ingredients is shallots. When used as a replacement or addition to onions they are supposed to make the food taste far superior according to Bourdain. Being greatly influenced by the book I started using this small pink onion like vegetable soon thereafter. They are available in most grocery stores in the US and many bhaji gallis in Bombay and albeit a little expensive than their cheap counterparts (onions and leeks) they taste far superior and more fragrant. I use them mainly to enhance the sometimes bland pasta sauces you find in supermarkets like I did this valentine's day to shimmy up a romantic meal for me and my sweetheart.

Spinach and Chicken Alfredo with thin Spaghetti.

Recipe:

Fry about 4 finely chopped shallots and 3 finely sliced cloves of garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add a finely chopped red hot chili pepper if you want add a little spice (spicy = sexy). Saute till shallots are soft but don't let them burn. You can add a pinch of salt and pepper over here. Add diced chicken and saute on medium till chicken turns white ,then a little brown on the edges and the water drawn out by the salt evaporates. Add baby spinach leaves ( about two handfuls because they wilt and greatly reduce in size). Once the spinach wilts , add one whole cup of store bought Alfredo sauce, turn heat on low and let simmer for about 3 minutes. Serve on top of thin spaghetti or pasta of your choice.

The aroma of the shallots and garlic is a killer ...and with some white wine your date can't go wrong, all other factors considered!