Not that long ago Mrs J posted about how sometimes you want to have some really soft and cosy food that cuddles you from the inside as well as the outside. When you have the flu, that’s definitely the kind of food you want, in order for you to really enjoy the best things about having the flu.

Also, it has to be simple. And be based on what’s already in your pantry. Because you’re definitely not up for shopping. Or chopping. Or peeling. Or, in fact, anything else that involves you leaving bed for more than half an hour.

Mrs J got herself off the couch for a little while to do this.

Get some chicken breast and cut in pieces. Alternatively, get some pre-cut frozen chicken breast from the freezer (that’s what Mrs J did). Throw in a pan with some butter and olive oil until just browned. Set aside.

In the same pan throw in some chopped onions. Let them go golden. Add some chopped garlic and let cook for just a minute. Add the rice and let it heat through until the rice looks shiny.

Then add chicken stock, enough to cover the rice. Also add a couple of handfuls of whatever you have around in terms of dried fruit. In this case, Mrs J added some chopped raisins, dried apricots and dried cranberries.

Keep adding stock (or water, if you used a double strong stock to begin with) while the rice cooks if it looks like it’s too dry. Otherwise in terms of quantities, Mrs J cooked 400g of chicken breast with 1 large yellow onion and one monster sized clove of garlic for 2.5 dl of dried long grain rice. But really, you use as much or as little as you like.

About 10 minutes into the cooking of the rice, put the chicken back in with the rice. You probably want to stop adding stock at this point unless you want a very loose rice.

After another 10 minutes on medium heat, add a little bit of butter and some chopped pine nuts (or whatever kind of nuts you happen to have around). Give it a taste and add salt and pepper if you think it needs some. Give everything a mix and finally add some chopped parsley.

Serve hot or luke warm, whatever feels more comfortable. Just tuck in and relax.