Rainy Days and Sundays Soup

The Carpenters sang –
“What I’ve got they used to call the blues
Nothing is really wrong
Feeling like I don’t belong
Walking around some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”

We all have those odd days when we are feeling a little under the weather. This is my Rainy Days and Sundays Chicken Soup. Not necessarily for when I’m feeling down but for some reason chicken soup always goes with rainy weather. This is a simple to make, light but somewhat satisfying soup full of flavour. Great on its own, or as an entrée to any meal.

Recipe for Rainy Days and Sundays Chicken Soup

Ingredients
1 Whole Chicken
1 Stick of Celery finelly chopped
1/2 a large onion or 1 small onion the size of an egg
1 Carrot, chopped into tiny bits
1 cup of basmati rice
Salt
Pepper
1/2 tsp Rosemary
1/2 tsp Basil
Serves 6

Method
Place the chicken in a pot and add enough water to cover the chicken. Three quarters of the pot full.
Add the onion, carrot bits, salt pepper, rosemary, basil.
Bring to the boil and allow to simmer until the chicken starts to pull away from the bone.
Remove the chicken from the pot and let it cool. Strip the meat off in tiny bite sized pieces.
In the meantime, add the cup of rice to the stock and let it simmer for another 10 – 15 minutes. The rice must well cooked.
Add the celery and the chicken to the soup.
Allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.
Ready to serve with some crispy hot bread or croutons on the side.