Sickness Soup.
My formula for a nourishing, hearty soup to soothe all ills. Or just because you want something tasty for lunch.
Very much back at it now, the transition between November and December for me was spent mostly on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. And because everyone knows that a nourishing, brothy soup is just the ticket when you’re feeling unwell, a nice big pot of it was the first thing I set about making once I was well enough to be in the kitchen again.
I know chicken soup is considered just the thing when you’ve been sick (and I have written delicious vegetable herby / matzo ball renditions in the past) but if you’re the main cook in the house and you’re still feeling rather under the weather, it is not always the most practical choice.
For starters, you probably won’t have any fresh chicken to hand, and you’ll need to remember to properly defrost some ahead of soup-making if you have some in the freezer. And that is also fraught with concern because you might be setting the use-up clock on a nice piece of bird only to take the turn for the worse again.
So, may I propose for the next time you don’t really feel up to it what I like to call my ‘Sickness Soup’, more a formula (though I have provided a recipe for this exact bowlful below) which makes use of store cupboard staples, combined with a choose-your-own adventure set of options for add-ins as you build the soup that suits the sort of fridge selection you’ll probably be left with after a few days of not really being on the ball. Incidentally, I think this also makes this soup a great meal option when you’ve got things to use up, or you’re just a day or two out from your next food shop / delivery.
The Cooking Fat
Get out a nice, big, heavy bottomed, lidded pot. I like my Le Creuset vs. my Staub here, because the light enamel interior makes it easier to track the colour on my softening alliums.
Then, swirl in your cooking fat of choice. I prefer oils here, as they add bursts of flavour floating on top of the soup, butters and ghee can make things a bit too heavy. The light, blended olive oil I use for general cooking is what I choose for slower softening alliums like onions and leeks, but if you’re using something quicker cooking like spring onions or finely sliced shallot, you can get away with extra virgin olive oil for an extra element of flavour.
Alliums + Other Veggies
The backbone of any good soup is the alliums. We’re not blending here, so which one you choose needs to be prepared accordingly. In my mind leeks (trimmed, sliced down the middle then thinly sliced, half per person) > spring onions (trimmed and finely chopped, four per person) banana shallots (finely sliced into half moons, half person) > white or brown onion (finely chopped, half a small one per person).
Gently warm the oil over a medium heat then add the allium with a generous pinch of salt, cooking until soft and just at risk of colouring.