Food for comfort

Perhaps it’s a case of “great minds think alike,” but I suspect that is has more to do with cold and flu season. Whatever the case, both Julochka and I had chicken soup on our minds and stovetops this week.

For the past couple of weeks, someone in my family has been coughing, snorting, wheezing, not sleeping well and feeling downright low and lethargic. Although English small-talk usually revolves around the weather, at the moment that perennial topic seems to have been replaced by dissecting the symptoms of what may or may not be swine flu. The problem is that the symptoms are so nonspecific, and resemble every other bad cold: aches, congestion, a streaming nose, a fever, a sharp sinus headache. My workaholic husband rarely gets sick, but on Friday he was home, in his bathrobe, pale and sweaty and downright miserable. Since he can’t abide the dubious saccharine flavored promises of Lemsip, (and doesn’t believe in them, anyway), I had to resort to that oldest and truest of remedies: homemade chicken soup.

In truth, chicken broth is something that I make every week – but I tend to use it for something else: a risotto, or the basis of a soup like Minestrone. Although I’m not the most efficient housewife, I regularly practice one recycling economy: I make a roast chicken, and then I make a broth from its carcass. It’s not a recipe exactly, but more of a method. I have a close friend who always just boiled up the bones with water, but I like to add more flavor and nutrients to my broth.

This is my method:

Remove any skin or fat, and then cover the bones of a chicken with cold water - approximately 3 quarts or 3 litres is usually about right.
Then add a large white onion, cut in half; two or three carrots and the same of celery, also cut into pieces. (I always save the frilly bits of the celery for broth.)
Very importantly, add about a tablespoon of good sea salt and in between 10-20 peppercorns. (I like a lot of pepper.)
If I want the broth for a Mexican soup of some kind, I might also add a clove or two of garlic and a bunch of cilantro.
(I like fresh parsley in a chicken broth, but I always add it at the end – so it retains its flavor and doesn’t get slimy.)
Bring the contents of your soup pot to a boil, and then simmer for at least an hour . . . or as long as you like. The longer you cook it down, the more concentrated the flavor will be – although you will, of course, lose some volume in the process.

After I’ve strained the broth, I tend to add more carrots and celery – cut into small coins and crescents – some chicken, if I have it, and noodles or rice. Let the broth boil, gently, until everything is soft.

The problem with persistent colds it that they tend to make a person feel really low and listless. Although chicken soup does help clear the sinuses, sometimes other comfort food is needed for those feelings of exhaustion and low-grade depression.

Once, when I was a child, my mother made me a homemade vanilla pudding when I had been ill for days and was just regaining my appetite. It was somehow rich and bland, soft and soothing, all at the same time. When I am feeling utterly worn-down, I still crave foods that fall into this category – and for several years now, my favorite has been a rice pudding made like a risotto.

A lot of English people have negative feelings about rice pudding because they associate it with “school food” – and have a horror of its watery lumpiness and the “skin” that forms on the top. A risotto inspired rice pudding is nothing like this, however; it is creamy and luscious. Another advantage it has over traditional rice pudding is its cooking method: instead of taking hours to cook in the oven, you can produce it in about half an hour’s stirring time. The only caveat is that you have to actually stand at the stove and stir it. Unlike a usual risotto, made with a clear broth, this one is made with milk – and milk burns easily. I recommend reading a light paperback while you stir; alternatively, you can have a long phone conversation with someone you’ve been meaning to catch up with for a while.

I got the inspiration for this recipe from my beloved Nigella – in her How to Eat cookbook.


Risotto-Inspired Rice Pudding

Ingredients:
700 ml (or about 24 fluid ounces) of “full-fat” milk*
1 ounce butter
2 heaping tablespoons of sugar**
75 grams (or four heaping tablespoons) of Arborio rice

Method:
Heat the milk to boiling in the microwave. (You can also heat it in a pan on the stovetop, but be vigilant because milk scorches easily and can leave you with horribly burnt pan to clean up.)

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and stir the sugar into it. When it is bubbling away, add the Arborio rice and stir for a minute or two until the grains are evenly coated.

Slowly, one ladle at a time, add the milk until is all incorporated. Then you need to slowly and methodically stir until all of the milk has transformed your rice into a lovely, creamy pudding.

After 20 minutes you can start tasting it. The rice should be soft, but still have some “shape” to it. (It shouldn’t be hard or grainy, though.)

When it is the right texture, I finish it off in one of several ways:
A handful of raisins
A few shavings of fresh nutmeg
A dab of butter and a tablespoon of cinnamon sugar

Nigella likes to add several tablespoons of double cream at the end, but I don’t like it to be this creamy.

*On the subject of full-fat dairy products, I will confess that I always make this pudding with semi-skimmed or even skimmed milk. Julochka and I differ when it comes to dairy products. I don’t like the overly creamy taste (or fat content) of whole milk; she and Nigella do.

**I always use vanilla sugar when I make this pudding. If you don’t have any, you might want to do some good vanilla essence to the hot milk.

On Friday, I made this lunch for my ailing husband: chicken soup, followed by rice pudding. It was delicious and comforting, and l would like to think that it made both of us feel a little bit better. Of course, you don’t have to be sick or depressed to enjoy this meal . . . but sometime this flu season you will probably have the need of it.   Of course, it would be extra extra-nice if someone would make it FOR you . . . but we can't everything in this life.