Chicken Soup Cure for Colds and Flus

It's March and my defenses are down, and the flu bug has arrived.   Last night, I just could not stop coughing, so at 8:37 p.m. I got up and whipped up a pot of soup.   It was simmering on the stove 3 minutes later.   By 9 p.m. I was sipping hot soup, and after several bowls and an Advil, I settled into a long, sweaty sleep.   By morning, I was much better and my head was so clear I put in a full day analyzing accounting policies for a credit union.

So here is my never fail chicken soup recipe.  

Ingredients:
4-5 pieces of chicken with skin and bones (frozen pieces work fine)
Cold water
1onion
2  carrots
1 potato
3-4 cloves garlic, roughly sliced
Fresh dill
Fresh parsley
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper or peppercorns
Dried sage leaves
1 star anise

Instructions:
Put everything into a pot of cold water.
Simmer 30-45 minutes until chicken is tender.

Mushroom Infusion

Harry on mushrooms -- there's two ways to cook mushrooms.   One is to saute them to make them brown and crispy.   The other is to infuse them.   The saute method dries them out and you loose flavour.   The infusing method retains the juices and the flavour.   It is important to select a good mushroom (Crimini) and to cook them whole.   Harry doesn't wash them or even brush off the dirt.   I can attest to how amazing the infusing method tastes.

Ingredients
Butter
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Fresh garlic, grated
Onion (any kind), chopped fine
Crimini mushrooms, whole
Fresh dill (for fish dish) or other fresh herb that corresponds to the herb used for the main dish
White wine (a good one is Oyster Bay Savignon Blanc)

Instructions
Put everything in a cold saute pan.
Turn the heat on high.
Keep tossing everything around to make sure it doesn't burn but it's okay if the pan gets pretty brown.
Add a little white wine and put the lid on the pan.   Let the mushrooms steam until the liquid is gone and the pan is turning brown.
Turn down the heat to medium, and add a little more wine.  As soon as it evaporates, the dish is done.   Turn off.   If holding for a short while, just put the lid on the pan.