Soup Weather...

Whenever I get stuck, I find myself in the kitchen. Sometimes the simple acts of preparing a meal can unlock the obstacles. There's something freeing about setting to a task and just allowing your hands to move of their own accord. Cooking engages the senses. Sight. Smell. Taste. Touch. They combine to produce something that will nourish both the body and the soul.

Today has been a great big flop as far as getting things done. I needed to achieve some small act. I needed something to combat the darkness, creeping in earlier and earlier each day. I needed a bowl of chicken soup.

I roasted a chicken earlier in the week with some carrots, onions and celery. I set aside some of the "mirepoix" for soup tonight. I deboned the remaining chicken and put the bones, skin and fat in a stock pot with water. I set the mixture to high heat until it reached a rapid boil and then set it to low to simmer, covered. (If available, you could add a few lime leaves. Just don't forget to remove them.)

Meanwhile, I pulled the chicken into smaller bite-sized pieces and tossed with a tablespoon of olive oil. I then coated the chicken in melody of seasonings. I used garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, ground red pepper, salt, ground black pepper and a dash of curry powder. This is set aside so that the chicken can absorb all the flavors.

In a large pot, I melted down two pads of butter and added a dash of olive oil. To the oil and butter mixture, I added a few spoonfuls of minced garlic and two big hunks of peeled and slivered fresh ginger root. The ginger really turns up the heat in this soup. Move the ginger and garlic around on medium heat for about five minutes or until the edges of the garlic start to turn golden. Add a cup of white wine. Pour in the roasted carrots, onions, and celery. Coat the vegetables in the garlic, ginger wine mixture. Strain stock and add to the vegetables. You'll want to cook this down until the stock has thickened and the vegetables are completely soft. This takes about 30 minutes.

Once the soup based has thickened, add the chicken. It's important to add the chicken last. Since it's already cooked, it just needed to be heated up. Cooking it for much longer will make the chicken dry and rob it of the flavors it has been soaking up. So don't overcook! The soup should be quite thick at this point and VERY spicy!

Prepare your bowls by filling them halfway with room-temperature creamy coconut milk. The coconut milk will help sweeten the dish and balance the heat of the spices and ginger. The coconut milk will also add liquid and make it more soupy and less stewy.

I like to serve this Asian-inspired chicken soup with lots of sliced baguette bread on the side to sop up whatever the spoon misses. The bowls are guaranteed to come back clean.