Grandpa Dick visits Po' Bastard's Kitchen

Andrew's dad, aka Grandpa Dick, aka Apick (this last phrase invented by Grandma Cindy's oldest grandson, Jabob, who couldn't pronounce "Grandpa Dick", and coined this nickname instead-- I think it's brill), is visiting with us in Dublin until Tuesday.

In addition to lugging a suitcase full of diapers, toys, clothes, Christmas gifts, and food, he has been an excellent houseguest because he eats virtually anything Po' Bastard puts in front of him. Po' Bastard sees this as testimony to her extremely-above-average-at-least- 2.5- star cooking, but it could also mean that Grandpa Dick is just so hungry all the time from walking castle walls in Wales that he doesn't care much what Po' Bastard makes.

Anyway, when your Grandpa Dick visits YOU, this is what you should feed him after a day of castle-seeing in rural Wales:

Po' Bastard's Sweet Potato, Pear, and Chicken Soup (no, really)

Ingredients:
-2 chicken breast halves, poached, left to cool, and shredded
-4-5 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
-1 large carrot, peeled and diced
-3 small pears, cored and diced
-8 cups chicken broth
-3 cloves garlic, unpeeled and left whole
-1 whole onion, topped, tailed, and peeled
- generous dashes of: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
-salt and pepp
-a small handful of some little noodles, like macaroni, if you want

Method:
Poach the chicken in some water until it's cooked. Cool it, shred it finely, and then set it aside. Dissolve the broth cubes in the water, bring everything to the boil, and toss in the sweet potatoes, carrot, pears, cloves of garlic, and onion. Add the seasoning, give everything a stir, turn it down to a simmer, and cover with a lid. Let everything go like this for about an hour, until the vegetables and stuff are very tender. Take the pot off the heat, fish out the garlic cloves and the onion, and then mash everything up with a potato masher. Stir in the shredded chicken, put back on the heat, and add the noodles. Heat it slowly again for a few minutes, put the lid back on, and then just turn off the pan and leave it on the burner. The noodles will cook from the residual heat left in the pan, and this way the flavours mingle and mix.

Po' Bastard served this with cheese-topped foccacia bread... the recipe for that can also be found on this site. Rest assured that though this mix sounds like something found in a baby food jar that it comes with the Grandpa Dick Seal of Approval. He ate at least two bowls, and said it was, "Good soup."