If winter is a harbinger of the common cold, the flu, and other maladies to your home as it is to mine, then you will benefit greatly from the following recipe for a super amped-up chicken stock.
Chicken Elixir
from Lucinda Scala Quinn's Mad Hungry
1. Roast a chicken. Or, if you are sometimes prone to laziness efficiency like me, use a broasted chicken that you buy at the grocery store. Bone it, save the meat, throw the chicken bones, skin, and assorted debris into a large stockpot with a pasta insert.
2. Add carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, parsley, thyme, garlic, salt/pepper and enough water to cover all of the good stuff. (This a great excuse to use those carrots and celery stalks that are withering in the bottom of your vegetable drawer...)
3. This is the step that turns chicken stock into chicken ELIXIR. Add a large peeled knob of garlic and 2 jalopenos cut in half and seeded.
4. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 5-6 hours. Strain the debris from the broth. Separate broth into 2-cup portions and freeze.
5. When illness befalls you, thaw out a portion and drink it as hot as you can stand it.
Check out Mad Hungry for more detail on the health benefits of Chicken Elixir and assorted other awesome recipes.
