Bone and vegetable broth (Provided photo — Yvona Fast)

Its Flu Season, and time for Chicken Soup. At my house in winter, chicken soup was known as Jewish Penicillin and was most often served when someone was sick. For variety, it was made with egg noodles or matzo balls. A steaming bowl of chicken soup always makes you feel better!

My Italian friends call it Italian penicillin, a Sicilian staple. Their version is made with tiny star or pearl-shaped noodles called pastina. Campbell’s copied this soup, canned it and called it Chicken and Stars.

In Greece, the soup served when someone is sick is Avgolemono — a version made with chicken, rice, lemon and egg.

In Vietnam, Pho Ga or Mien Ga is a simple, flavorful noodle soup made with chicken broth and fresh vegetables. In Vietnam, this comforting soup is often slurped for a quick breakfast. The flavor varies, depending on the seasonings in the broth; it can be sweet and spicy or savory, depending on the region. In Vietnamese pho shops and homes, the broth is cooked first, from a whole chicken and seasoned with garlic and ginger. The bulk of the soup is glass noodles (also known as cellophane noodles, made with mung beans or rice). The soup is garnished with fresh, raw vegetables like scallions, green chiles and bean sprouts, along with herbs like fresh mint, cilantro, lime leaves and basil garnish the top.

In Japan, chicken soup is made with ramen, a wheat noodle that cooks instantly. Chicken broth is seasoned with miso or soy sauce. The soup is garnished with fresh veggies like nori (seaweed) or scallions. Other toppings can include braised chicken or pork.

Modern medical research is validating what our grandmothers have always known: when you’re sick with a cold or flu, eat soup. While the specific ingredients that make soup an effective remedy have not been identified, scientists believe a combination of ingredients is responsible for soup’s curative powers.

Historical records show chicken soup has been used by cold and flu sufferers for millennia. In the 10th century, the Persian physician Avicenna described its curative powers. Two centuries later, the Jewish scholar Maimonides recommended it for convalescents and wrote that it “has virtue in rectifying corrupted humours.”

Although they’re not yet completely understood, we know that colds and flu result from viral infections that cause inflammation in the upper respiratory tract. “Chicken soup might have an anti-inflammatory activity,” says Sr. Stephen Rennard, a pulmonary specialist at the University of Nebraska’s Medical Centre.

Chicken soup — the penicillin sick soup — is Grandma’s love in a bowl. Many have memories of grandmothers and mothers making a pot of this delicious, nourishing homemade soup. Even when no one is sick, it’s preventive medicine. It was often the first solid food given to babies. Grandmothers would also take a pot to new moms who had just delivered a baby.

It is simple to make. My Mom always saved chicken bones, or bought wings or drumsticks and made her own broth. If you roast a whole chicken (or buy a rotisserie chicken), you can use the carcass with some veggies and herbs to make a delicious broth to use or freeze for later. Today, many people buy pre-made chicken broth.

Once you have the broth, it takes just 20 minutes to prep all the ingredients and less than an hour to cook the soup. Make a lot — it is always better the next day.

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My Mom’s Homemade Broth

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Ingredients:

Bony pieces from chicken (Mom used chicken wings or backs)

6 to 8 cups of water

1 to 2 pounds chicken pieces (wings, necks, backs, thighs)

1 teaspoon salt

2 or 3 bay leaves

3 to 4 whole grains, allspice

3 to 4 peppercorns

Soup Veggies: one small (or half large) carrot, one small parsnip, a piece of celery root, a wedge of turnip or cabbage. My friend Valeria, who hails from Slovenia, was once asked by an American friend, ‘why do you put all those veggies in the soup?’ Her answer: “Why? Because that’s what makes the soup good.”

Mom made packages in pint-size freezer bags, which were labeled ‘soup veggies’ and frozen for the winter, so when she wanted to make soup, she would just pull one out. In Poland, you could buy packages of soup veggies in the produce aisle.

Directions:

Place meat in water; add salt & seasonings (bay leaf & allspice berries and peppercorns); bring to a boil. Lower the heat to just a simmer. Cook for at least an hour, preferably longer.

Remove from heat; cool until you can handle it. Remove the bones and return the meat to the pot. Add the soup veggies, return to a simmer and cook 30 to 60 minutes more. Some people discard the veggies after they had been cooked in the soup, but Mom would chop them up and put them back in the soup.

Now you have the broth and you can customize it into whatever soup you want — lentil, barley, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, minestrone, vegetable, noodle or whatever you dream up by adding more veggies and other ingredients.

Makes six to eight cups of broth

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Quick Ramen Soup

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Garnishes:

4 eggs (hard-boiled)

1 cucumber, sliced, seeds removed

1 lime, sliced, seeds removed

1 bunch scallions, sliced

Sesame seeds

Red chili flakes

Soup:

2 carrots

1 bunch bok choy

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece)

1 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce

1 1/2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth (homemade or store-bought)

1 12-oz. package uncooked ramen noodles

Directions:

Prepare the garnishes. Cook eggs till hard-boiled. Slice the cucumber, scallions and lime.

Prepare the vegetables. Chop carrots and bok choy and set aside.

Heat oil in a soup kettle. Add chopped vegetables and cook 5 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Mince the garlic and ginger, and add; cook one minute more. Stir in the tamari and cook 2 more minutes, then pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Make sure vegetables are tender.

Lower the heat to a simmer and add the ramen. At this point, be sure not to over-cook or the noodles will become soggy. Turn off the heat after just a minute or two.

Serve immediately, topped with prepared garnishes.

Serves five or six.

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Avgolemono — Lemony Greek-style chicken soup

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Ingredients:

1 3-lb. chicken (or 3 pounds chicken pieces)

2 quarts of water

1 teaspoon salt

1 bunch parsley

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1/3 cup long-grain rice

1 or 2 lemons, to taste

2 eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

Place chicken, water, salt and parsley in a large kettle. Bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat to a simmer.

Peel the onion, and mince fine. Add to the pot.

Simmer for about an hour.

In the meantime, chop celery and carrots fine and set aside.

After an hour, remove the parsley and discard. Carefully remove the chicken and set on a plate or cutting board to cool.

Add finely chopped carrots and celery to the pot, along with the rice. Return to a simmer and cook 20 to 30 minutes.

When rice and vegetables are cooked through, turn off the heat and cool slightly.

Squeeze juice from the lemons into the soup and stir.

In a bowl, use a whisk to beat the eggs with the cornstarch.

While whisking continually, add hot broth from the soup into the eggs, a little at a time, until you’ve used about 2 cups of broth. This tempers the eggs and cooks them, so they don’t curdle but they’re no longer raw.

Slowly stir the egg-broth back into the soup. This will thicken the soup.

Remove the chicken from the bones, chop the meat and stir it into the soup.

Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add some black pepper and fresh minced parsley and serve.

Serves six to eight.

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Italian Chicken Pastina Soup

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Ingredients

1 celery rib (about 1/2 cup)

1 small carrot (about 1/2 cup)

1 medium onion (about 1 cup)

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil (or 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter)

1 quart chicken bone broth

3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme, stripped

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup pastina (if you can’t find pastina noodles, try using orzo or couscous)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

2 sprigs fresh Italian parsley (about 2 tablespoons, minced)

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 egg, beaten

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Prepare vegetables and set aside. Finely dice celery, carrot and onion; mince garlic; strip thyme leaves from the stems.

Place your soup kettle over medium heat; add the olive oil and butter. Then add your veggies. Cook over medium-low heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften.

Add the broth, thyme, turmeric and black pepper. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer 20 minutes or a little longer.

Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup so that all the veggies are evenly mixed with the broth. Taste, and adjust seasoning if needed.

Now add the pastina and return the soup to a simmer. Cook about 10 minutes or until the noodles are tender.

Remove from heat. Sprinkle in the Parmesan cheese. Mince the parsley and add. Squeeze in the juice from half a lemon. Let the soup cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, beat the egg. Ladle a little broth from the soup into the beaten egg while stirring, to temper the egg. Stir the mixture into the soup.

Place in bowls and enjoy. Garnish each serving with a little extra cheese and season with more salt and freshly ground black pepper, if needed.

Serves four.

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Author of the award-winning cookbook Garden Gourmet: Fresh & Fabulous Meals from your Garden, CSA or Farmers’ Market, Yvona Fast lives in Lake Clear and has two passions: writing and cooking. She can be found at www.yvonafast.com and reached at yvonawrite @yvonawrites.