This is sick food, coddled in a cliche and a lap rug. The nose is still trickling like a recalcitrant tap and there are noises coming from my chest that sound like they belong to a marooned elephant seal.This is a  meal for one, best eaten with your back to some weak sun.

But if there is none, then scoffed wearing a tracksuit that is a tad saggy in the rear- as all the best loved ones are.

Chicken soup with some spicy, crunchy, chunky bits.

Serves 1

Equipment
1 saucepan

Shopping/foraging

1 and a half cups of chicken stock
Half a cup snow peas, chopped into 2cm squares
A handful of shredded chicken (left over roast, raw breast, or from a bbq one someone’s picked up from the shop up the road)
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
Chilli (fresh or from a jar) to taste
A handful of coriander

Here’s how we roll
1. Take a cup and a half of chicken stock. You might have some languishing in the fridge after making a roast last night. Or you might have some in a package in the cupboard. If you only have one cup then you can thin it with some water. It’s just for you.


2. Put it in a saucepan or, if they’re all dirty in the sink after making a roast and two sauces last night, then use a frypan with a bit of a lip.

3. Add a handful of shredded cooked chicken. Or some thinly sliced raw chicken breast and poach it in the warming stock.

4. Add half a cup of snowpeas that you’ve cut into chunks the size of your pinky fingernail.

5. When the chicken is cooked through and the stock at a tentative boil add two tablespoons of soy sauce and a teaspoon of chilli from a jar.

6. Top with a handful of coriander leaves and transfer to a bowl.

7. Eat… and feel better soon.