It’s not right to post a bowl of chicken noodle soup on the second day of August.

We should be talking about the joys of charred meat, peach cobbler and vodka watermelon, not how good this warm soup feels on a scratchy throat.

But a few days of sniffling and sneezing have Jeff and I in serious competition for Most Pitiful Person on the Couch. He took the early lead with a stuffy head, but I’m closing in with my Poison Ivy in an Uncomfortable Place. Anyhow, with allergies come cravings for cold-weather comfort foods, like big bowls of soup.

With plenty of life-giving noodles.

This Lemon-Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup has been a nose-and-throat saver. Chunks of chicken, fresh snow peas, matchstick carrots and noodles swimming in a bright, clean broth. This is what the broth in Campbell’s Won Ton Soup wishes it tasted like – a refreshing, somewhat Asian mix of lemon juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, lemongrass and ginger.

A bowl of this soup topped with a handful of scallions, parsley and cilantro is almost worth having the sniffles.

As for the poison ivy, that’ll teach me to go skinny-dipping while it’s still light outside.

Soba Noodles in Lemon-Ginger Chicken Broth

The original recipe did not contain ginger, which seemed weird, weird, weird, so I added some. Feel free to tinker with the amount according to your own taste.

Adapted from “Cristina Ferrare’s Big Bowl of Love”

Makes 8 servings

• 4 quarts chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 stalk lemongrass, hard wooded top cut off, tender stalk split down the middle (optional)
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of peeled and grated ginger
• 8 ounces dry soba noodles or whole wheat spaghetti
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 40 snow peas (or sugar snap peas)
• 1 cup matchstick carrots (or slice 2 carrots into very thin 3-inch-long slices)
• 2 scallions, minced
• 4 sprigs parsley
• 4 sprigs cilantro

1. Pour your chicken broth into a large saucepan, and bring it to a gentle boil.
2. Add the sesame oil, soy sauce, lemongrass, lemon juice and ginger. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the soba noodles and chicken, and gently boil for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked.
4. Add the snow peas and carrots, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Taste, and add more ginger, if necessary.
6. Using a pair of tongs, gently lift the noodles out of the broth, and transfer them to your soup bowls. Ladle the hot soup over the noodles. Garnish with scallions, parsley, and cilantro, and serve immediately.

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