Chicken, Lemon and Basil Soup

Sometimes what I need is a pure and simple soup to revive the soul, and that is when I turn to an Asian style of soup. I have mentioned before that I see two different ways to make soup. One, the western way involves cooking your ingredients together slowly until deep complex flavours develop. The other, what I would call the asian way involves quickly heating stock with added flavourings and adding a few fresh ingredients at the end. Cooking quickly and lightly produces a light healthy soup preserving much more of the vitamins in the fresh ingredients, and if you are organised is very quick and easy to make. This soup is my take on an asian style soup but using western flavourings - chicken lemon and fresh basil.

- Turn the grill (or broiler) on full to heat up (and turn on the extractor fan as well - you’ll need it!)
- Put a little olive oil in a saucepan over a low heat and pop in a crushed and sliced clove of garlic to cook slowly.
- Peel an onion and slice it end to end to make pointy slices.
- Take a piece of aluminium foil and fold up the edges to make a shallow tray. You could use a tray but this way there is less washing up.
- Put a chicken breast and the onion in the foil, pour over a little olive oil, salt and ground pepper and the juice of half a lemon and mix together.
- Pop it under the hot grill to cook.
- Pour about 3/4 of a pint of chicken stock in with the garlic, throw in the squeezed lemon half and bring slowly to the boil. The stock features large in this type of soup so a homemade stock is best but, hey, use whatever you have.
- Keep checking the chicken and onions - you want them cooked and just blackening at the edges but the chicken will take longer so remove the onions into a bowl as soon as they are done
- Once all is cooked roughly slice the chicken breast and pour the juices from the little tray into the stock.
-To serve place the chicken in a couple of soup bowls along with onions, pour over the stock and finally top with a handfull of basil leaves. Basil does not need cooking so goes in right at the end. Mine needed a little salt but that depends on the stock so taste it first.

A very pretty soup I think but not one for entertaining as there is too much to do at the preparation stage. No this is one to keep for a solitary but luxurious lunch or supper just for one (or two, if you really like them) . . .

An Asian inspired Chicken, Ginger and Spring Onion Soup

After the recent rain it is now one of those clear bright days of Autumn going into Winter. The sun is streaming through the windows and bouncing around the room with a cold intensity that a lazy Summer day could never match. Ever the perfect earth-mother, Nicola has made some stock from the remains of our Sunday roast chicken. It is absolutely delicious, fresh and clean and deserves a starring role in something . . .

I am not an expert but to me the difference between an Asian soup and a Western is their simplicity. Whereas a Western soup would be cooked slowly an Asian one is quick to make, consisting of little more than stock warmed through with a few simple flavourings. This is my take on that idea.

- Put a pint of chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Take a small piece of ginger root, say half the size of your thumb, slice it very thinly and pop it into the stock.
- While the stock is simmering, turn on the grill and prepare the chicken.
- Rub a chicken breast with a little olive oil and lots of salt and ground black pepper.
- Put under the grill and cook until browning at the edges and just cooked through. I do this on a little tin foil box or tray that I fold up so that the juices are collected to add to the soup as well.
- Now back to the stock, and add in half a teaspoon of salt, the same of sugar and about a dessertspoon of light soy sauce. I use an organic Tamari which is quite mild and not too salty, so adjust the amount until it tastes right.
- Slice two spring onions into thin circles.
- Once the chicken is cooked slice or tear it into pieces.
- Add the chicken and spring onions to the stock and serve immediately, nice and hot.

Serve with lots of Winter sunshine.

Chicken, Spinach and Bean soup

Sunday 8.59pm

Inspired I think by our new rustic wall cabinet I decided to make a more down to earth simple soup. This was the result. Now with only a few ingredients the quality of the stock will be important, so here is where a home made stock really comes into it's own. Vegetable or chicken would work fine, I used chicken made from the roast chicken carcass that the chicken for the soup came from.

- Start with a base made from a small onion, two cloves of garlic and a stick or two of celery, all chopped quite finely and cooked gently in some olive oil until soft and transparent but not coloured.

- You'll need a handfull of chicken later, I used left over roast chicken but if you start with a raw chicken breast then bring your stock to the boil now and pop in the chicken to cook -about ten minutes.

- Once the base is ready add in a tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.

- Stir them around so they mix with the base, but gently because tinned beans are quite delicate and you don't want them to break up.

- Add in the stock - a pint and a quarter, and bring to a gentle boil. Again you don't want to boil too fiercely or the beans will turn to mush.

- Cook gently for fifteen to twenty minutes then add a handfull of cooked chicken and continue cooking for ten minutes or so until it is heated through.

- Check the seasoning, it may need a little salt. Some black pepper is always a good idea and finally a squeeze of lemon juice.

Spinach, especially baby spinach takes very little cooking so just tear up a few leaves, put them into the soup bowls and ladle the soup over. It will cook in the heat from the soup.

This soup has quite a simple taste so some bread with rosemary on top goes well along with some grated parmesan if you like.