Feed A Cold, Starve a Fever

Two weeks ago my daughter was sent home from school with a bender of a cold. As she cowered in her darkened room, coughing and spluttering amidst a mountain of soggy tissues, I did my dutiful mother bit. With a combination of 'Berocca' vitamin C tablets, echinacea tinctures, hot lemon and honey drinks, and boiled eggs and soldiers, I managed to restore her flagging immune system in time for her dreaded double maths lesson first thing on Monday morning. A fortnight later, I have finally succumbed to the dreaded 'lurgi' myself. It is not a pleasant experience and I am not a happy bunny. At times like these, we need to spoil ourselves and, in my book, the old remedies are the best.

My darling Irish mum, sadly no longer with us, had the most amazing cure, which nowadays would probably have put us on the social services register. It consisted of the juice of a fresh lemon, a tablespoon, at least, of delicious locally grown honey, two aspirins and a seriously good slug of Power's Irish whiskey, all gently heated and poured into a pretty china mug patterned with rosebuds. In the peace and quiet of the Irish countryside, I would sleep like a baby until I emerged, groggy but cured, some days later. With delicious boiled eggs foraged from her wayward chickens and a couple of slices of her home baked soda bread to line my stomach [alongside a constant supply of replenished hot water bottles, one for the chest, one for the feet, and a liberal dousing of 'Vick's Vapour Rub'], having a cold really was rather a treat.

Chicken soup is, of course, the other great staple cure for the common cold, beloved by Jewish mothers everywhere and immortalised by Rabbi Lionel Blue in his 'Chicken Soup For The Soul' recipe book. Chickens were too precious in rural Ireland to be slaughtered for anything other than high days and holidays. A runny nose and a hacking cough were not justification enough, so we made do with soft boiled eggs instead, hardly a deprivation, especially when served with warm bread straight from the peat range.

For some reason, my daughter declined the soup but I always make myself a pot of it to gorge on whenever I feel under the weather. I use masses of garlic, primarily for their ant-bacterial qualities but also because they make the soup taste sweet, and anything sweet is comforting and nurturing when you don't have your mum to run to any more. I like to add a hint of sage too, because it also has recuperative anti-bacterial qualities.

LOLA'S CHICKEN SOUP

1 good quality locally sourced, preferably organic, chicken
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 large Spanish onions, finely chopped
5/6 garlic cloves grated
2 celery sticks, finely sliced
3 organic carrots, diced
2/3 leeks, sliced
3/4 sage leaves, finely chopped
small bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
enough water to cover the chicken
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Optional additions:

one head celeriac, chopped
one head of fennel, chopped
3 parsnips
2 turnips
chilli flakes or 1 finely chopped fresh chilli
some freshly grated fresh ginger

TO GARNISH

100 g fresh or frozen peas
400g g carrots, chopped
100g egg vermicelli or lochoen, if available

It's best not to be too purist with a chicken soup recipe, I find. The main thing is to go for the freshest, most seasonal and flavoursome vegetables you can find. However, the essential trio for this soup remains onion, celery and carrot.

METHOD

Gently heat the olive oil in a large saucepan [large enough for the chicken to sit in comfortably]. Sweat the onion in the olive oil until translucent. If you opt to use chilli for some extra heat, you put it in at this stage.

Add the celery and carrot and cook gently with the onion for a couple of minutes.

Put the chicken into the pot and cover completely with water. Bring gently to the boil.

Add all the other vegetables and the chopped herbs and season to taste. Using a fine cheese grater, grate in the garlic.

Turn down to a gentle simmer, cover and leave for one and a half to two hours. Skim off any fat or scum that forms on the top at regular intervals.

Remove the chicken, allow to cool a little and remove the meat from the carcass and bone. Reserve for the soup.

Cover the stock and cook for a further 30 minutes. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and allow the stock to cool. Refridgerate for 6 hours, or overnight. When chilled, remove all the fat solids from the top with a large spoon.

TO SERVE

Reheat the stock, bring to the boil and add the chopped carrots. Simmer for 10 minutes or so until the carrots are tender. Cut the reserved chicken into small pieces. Add the peas and vermicelli or lochoen and cook for a further 5 minutes, before returning the chicken pieces to the soup to heat through and serve. Garnish with some finely chopped flat leaf parsley.


LOLA'S RESTORATIVE WILTED SPINACH

I always think that dark coloured greens are great for a heavy cold and nothing beats a mound of freshly wilted organic spinach, pepped up with garlic, fresh chilli and lemon for extra vitamins. Actually, I love it anytime, especially with white fish.

500g freshly picked organic spinach, washed and shaken to remove excess water
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 red chilli, seeds removed, and finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

Heat the olive oil very gently in a wok or large cast iron pan and add the chilli and garlic. Cook over a low heat for five minutes.

Add the spinach and cover for five minutes, until the spinach has wilted. Add the lemon juice, soy sauce, salt and pepper and serve immediately.

My other great craving when I have a cold are stewed apples and blackberries, cooked in a little apple juice, a squeeze of lemon and a teaspoonful of allspice, cooled and chilled in the fridge for a few hours, with a good dollop of ice cream. Green and Black's is good, if you can manage to keep it in your fridge for more than a day. Shopping and coughing doesn't really work. For some peculiar reason, shock horror, I find that I can't cope with chocolate ice cream when my throat is gunky. Usually, I can polish it off by the tub full, especially with chunks of stem ginger and ginger syrup on top, or some fresh raspberries and a coulis. Vanilla is OK, lemon or orange ice cream even better. Best of all though is whisky and ginger ice cream. I adapted this recipe years ago, from the wonderful Jill Norman, when I was searching for something festive to have for dessert on Christmas Eve. Like my mum's Irish whiskey 'hot toddy', it zaps a cold in no time. And, even if it doesn't, it makes you feel so much better, you soon forget your woes!

WHISKEY AND GINGER ICE CREAM

75g granulated sugar
75mls water
75mls Power's Irish Whiskey, or Scottish malt whisky, or American Bourbon
100g stem ginger, finely chopped
4 egg yolks
100g organic caster sugar
450mls whole milk
150mls double cream

METHOD

Make a syrup by bringing the water and granulated sugar to the boil in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool, then add the whiskey and ginger and set aside.

Fill the sink with cold water just in case the eggs start to separate. Beat the egg yolks and caster sugar until thick and pale in colour. In another pan, heat the milk slowly just to boiling point. Pour a little into the egg and sugar mixture, beating all the time. Add the rest of the milk slowly, and keep stirring. Return the mixture to the pan over a low heat and stir until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil - if it appears to be getting too hot and in danger of splitting, put the saucepan into the cold water in the sink to reduce the temperature immediately.

Strain into a bowl and stir as the custard cools, then stir in the ginger mixture.

Whip the cream lightly and fold it into the custard. Freeze in an ice cream maker, as per the manufacturer's instructions, then put the mixture into a plastic box and leave in the freezer for at least an hour before serving.

Scrumptious and good for both body and soul [although perhaps not the waistline!].