I made my new recipe hot and sour chicken soup tonight. It's so good and so simple! Lemony and garlicky with just a bit of burn. Plus chicken and noodles. I could totally sell this to people who had the cold and didn't have their mothers near by.

My Yellow Pages Ad: Got a head cold? Call me and I'll come make delicious soup for you in your house. I'll even swing by and pick up a video for you.

::smek smek::

Of course, you have to have a good bread to sop it up, and I got one of my two favorite breads in San Francisco: green onion & feta.

I made my new recipe hot and sour chicken soup tonight. It's so good and so simple! Lemony and garlicky with just a bit of burn. Plus chicken and noodles. I could totally sell this to people who had the cold and didn't have their mothers near by.

Taunter. You're not going to share this fantastic recipe with us?

Taunter. You're not going to share this fantastic recipe with us?

It's not complicated. Though it helps to have a roasted chicken in the fridge. If you're like me, and tend to pick up a supermarket roasted chicken at least once a week, then this is not an issue. Though I guess you could make it with fresh chicken, but then it would take more than ten minutes to cook.

Anyway...Chicken stock, 3 cups. Four cloves of garlic. Cut into chunks and crush it slightly with the flat of the blade. Toss in. Put in the noodles now. I use a fat Italian curvy noodle like Fusilli or Rotini. Use the bottom half of your chicken (the dark meat and stuff away from the breast meat). Toss it in making sure to include bones and skin. (Makes it richer.) Squeeze in half a large lemon. Liberally dose with Thai chili sauce (Srichacha). Let it cook ten minutes or so until the noodles are done. Fish out the chicken and remove the bones. Put the meat back in.

Serves two.

I usually skim it a couple times because you get a yucky froth when the citrus gets in there.

Serve with crusty Italian bread. (Pugiliese!)

So it has the virtues of Avgolemeno (a Greek chicken soup with lemon juice) and Asian hot and sour soups. But it's simpler with less ingredients. It's pretty much just chicken and noodles in a really satisfying broth that is easy on the stomach but good for clearing the sinuses and throat.

Thanks, Hec. I'm bookmarking that for later. I too usually have a cooked chicken in the fridge. They're just so useful.

They're just so useful.

Exactly! Instant protein.

Hmm, think I could make that in crockpot with raw chicken thighs. Add the lemon juice and Srichacha about a half hour before serving.

Add the lemon juice and Srichacha about a half hour before serving.

Yep, that would work. Actually, the noodles too at the end.

So basically just chicken thighs and stock and garlic. Cook cook cook, add lemon, noodles and Srichacha at the end. Serve when noodles are ready.

Good heavens. A small-antlered buck just sauntered down the street past my house.

My dinner was toasted mozzarella on French bread and baby carrots. It'll probably be my lunch tomorrow as well.

I was very productive around the house tonight. Swept everywhere, filed papers, folded clothes, etc. Now shower and bed.

My dinner was tofu, stir fried with pasta, sweet peppers, onions, papaya, lime juice, chicken boullion cube, coconut, honey, wine, curry power, garlic, cardoman. Was originally going to use Tempeh, but had a friend visiting who hates Tempeh. Very good. (I undercooked it in the morning while making breakfast, then let it sit all day in the fridge to marinate, then reheated. Much better I think than if I made it at night.)

And if you don't have noodles, I made spaetzle for my chicken soup the other day, and it was so good and easy. You basically throw together a paste of eggs, a little water, flour and salt and then press it through a collander with a spoon. Nom.