Quick and comforting chicken noodle soup

This chicken noodle soup will hit the spot, plus it’s quick and easy to make: comfort in a bowl.

It’s a wet and windy day. The hens are complaining, as they hate getting wet, even though they got a bucket of scraps mixed with oats and hot water just now. I’m cold and hungry after my excursion to the henhouse and want a nice comforting lunch that’s guilt-free and filling.

You don’t need to start with raw chicken if you have leftovers from a roast dinner, or you could pick up a pack of cooked chicken in the supermarket. You could also buy a jar each of ginger paste and garlic paste at your local Asian shop (where it will be much cheaper than the tubes you buy in the supermarket) and a pack of spiralised vegetables like courgettes or a pack of medium noodles.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients
900ml chicken stock
8 mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 spring onions, chopped (keep the green tops for garnish)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, or 2 tsp garlic paste
1 heaped tsp chopped fresh ginger or ginger paste
300g chopped cooked chicken
2 medium courgettes, spiralised
freshly ground black pepper
sweet chilli sauce (optional)
tamari or soy sauce (optional)

Method
Pour the stock into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the mushrooms, spring onions, garlic and ginger. Cook on a low heat for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavours to blend together.

Add the chicken and allow it to heat through, then add the spiralised courgettes and allow to just heat through, not cook. Taste and add black pepper, sweet chilli sauce and tamari or soy sauce to your liking (if using).

Ladle into warmed bowls and sprinkle with the reserved chopped green tops of the spring onions.

Tip
Tamari is a gluten-free dark soy sauce.

Extracted from Doctor on a Diet by Dr Paula Gilvarry (Gill Books, €19.99).