IT'S ALL ABOUT IMMUNITY.

Nobody is immune. I think we’ve learnt that by now. But you can amp up your immune system by lying down (naps!), walking (to coffee!) and feeding yourself something anti-inflammatory (chicken soup!)

Immunity is like innocence. You may never really be 100% innocent, but you can work on building a case for yourself that will hold up in court and let you get away with murder.

Similarly, you can build up your immunity to help you get away with all the rest of the stuff you do; like staying out late, sitting down all day, and eating crisp, deep-fried churros lined with anchovy and lemon aioli crème fraiche.

So here are a few of the things that current science says can increase your immunity:

• Mandarins and citrus  ( add a slice and a squeeze to G & Ts and Negronis)

• Pumpkin and sweet potato (mmmm, soups, roasts, warm salads)

• Silverbeet and spinach (just wilt in a pan with a little butter and oil, don’t drown in water)

• Garlic and ginger (add to EVERYTHING)

• Turmeric (that earthy, bitter, spice that turns everything fluorescent orange on approach. The ground powder is stronger, but fresh turmeric is hauntingly beautiful – just peel and grate on a microplane and watch your fingers turn weirdly yellow)

• Almonds and sunflower and pumpkin seeds (lightly toasted, add crunch)

• Blueberries and yoghurt (put ’em together, can’t go wrong)

Because everyone I know has a cold, including me, and because the odds are that you will get one too, we’re talking chicken soup this week.

Not just any chicken soup, but one packed with turmeric, ginger and garlic; golden-hued and sweet-smelling, with little globules of oily goodness on top. Next to a big slice of hot, buttered toast, it’s a booster shot in itself.

If you want to start from scratch and make your own chicken stock - because great chicken soup requires a great chicken stock or it can actually be bloody boring and make you think you have lost your sense of taste – there’s a good recipe here.

But sometimes when you’re feeling all cold-y and a bit shaky, you just want chicken soup and you want it now, without having to start from scratch. So here’s a quicky, just in case.

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP WITH TURMERIC, GINGER, GARLIC & LEMON

You’ll need chicken stock, chicken breast, carrots, celery and any member of the neighbourhood onion family you can find, from leeks to onions to shallots. Amp it up with turmeric, ginger, garlic, cumin and lemon and serve with wilted greens and thin egg noodles (or thin egg pasta like angel hair nests) or lentils or rice. Serves two.

• 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter

• 1 leek or onion, finely sliced

• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced

• 2 smallish celery stalks, finely sliced

• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced

• Thumb of fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced or 1 tsp ground ginger

• Thumb of fresh turmeric, peeled and grated or half tsp ground turmeric

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 600 ml chicken stock

• 1 organic chicken breast, rinsed and dried

• 2 leaves silver beet or good handful of spinach

• 200 g thin egg noodles, cooked

• 2 thin slices of lemon, halved

• 1 tbsp parsley leaves, chopped

• Sea salt and pepper and extra virgin olive oil

HEAT the oil or butter in a pan, and gently fry the onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes without browning.

ADD the garlic, ginger, turmeric and cumin, and cook for 2 minutes.

ADD chicken stock and simmer for 15 minutes or until carrot is tender.

ADD chicken breast and gently poach for 8 minutes, then turn off the heat, cover and leave to steep for 10 minutes.

REMOVE chicken breast and slice/shred with a knife, then return chicken to the soup.

CUT stalks from silver beet and roughly chop leaves.

ADD silver beet leaves and noodles, be generous with sea salt and pepper and reheat for just a minute or two until silver beet is softened.

SERVE in warm bowls with lemon slices, parsley, more pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.

DON’T SERVE with pale linen napkins unless you want them stained with turmeric.

He likes noodles, she likes rice.

She also likes lentils. He still insists on noodles.

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Thanks for reading! Feel free to subscribe for more Jill Dupleix Eats in your inbox every Thursday.  And special thanks to my right-hand man, Terry Durack for getting the flu and looking as if he needed chicken noodle soup. Reader, it cured him instantly. (Not really, but it certainly made him feel better).

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about time, folks.