Stock and Cold

My wife has a cold. Not a go to bed and stay there cold but a cold nonetheless. She feels rotten. So we had a chat in bed this morning about the comforts of broth and soup when you're poorly. I made a broth last night with fresh chilies, ginger and noodles. I thought she might like something hot - in both senses of the word to cut through the fog of cold. And she did. But we both agreed that if you're feeling really bad then chicken soup is a must - and for that you need chicken stock.

You can make stock from cooked chicken carcass or fresh bits from the butcher, I usually ask for chicken wings if the latter. But mostly I use leftover roast chicken. Put it in a big pot, add enough water to almost cover, put in aromatics - a celery stick, a carrot and an onion plus a bayleaf and some peppercorns, 6 or so. Bring it up to the simmer and let it do that for a couple of hours on the top of the stove and covered. Let it cool.

Drain in to a large bowl keeping the carcass in the colander - you can then pick the chicken bits off to go in to the soup. The stock can go in to the fridge where it will keep for a couple of days until you want the soup or you can freeze it. Now, where's that soup recipe?