Chicken Soup for the Rain

As you may have gathered by now, we are in the middle of an unseasonably wet summer in Germany. It's not raining again, it is raining still. Sometimes I don't understand our perceptions of food and weather. In cold weather, we eat warm soup. Yet in South East Asia, the temperatures are hardly polar, yet they still eat soup. Maybe it's just because soup is good. I like soup a lot & I often lament the fact that Europe sees soup solely as an appetizer. Granted, there is the potage or stew, but it's not the same - it's thicker & not quite as messy. I love phô in all its forms and would immediately marry the man who takes me to a phô restaurant on a first date. OK, maybe not, but he'd score huge points, in spite of broth in his beard.

The idea was to grill the chicken for the soup. It's summer. I'm supposed to grill things. In spite of the rain, or perhaps because of it, I'm not going outside to use the BBQ. I'll use a frying pan instead to brown my meat.

Grilled Chicken Soup

2 chicken thighs, cut at joints
2 Tbsp red miso
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp red wine
1 tsp neutral oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp minced lemon grass
100 g mushrooms, chopped
500 ml chicken stock
1 dried chilli
90 g cooked soba noodles (1 prewrapped roll)
100g spinach, cooked or frozen
2 green onions
handful chopped cilantro

Create marinade of miso, garlic powder & wine. Add chicken, score legs lightly to allow marinade to penetrate. Set aside.

Over medium heat, warm oil & sautee garlic, ginger, lemongrass & mushrooms. Add chicken stock & chilli, lower heat to simmer & cover.

In frying pan over med-high heat, brown chicken, skin side down, turning to brown evenly. Chicken will not be cooked through before you remove from heat.

Place chicken in soup mixture. Allow to cook until cooked through.

Shortly before serving, add cooked spinach, (if using frozen, allow to thaw in soup), add noodles, onions & cilantro.

As in winter, I was grateful for a warm broth. I'm not grateful for the mild winter of July, but all things considered, at least it's a mild winter. I think I should just move to Spain.