From a can??! Look, it’s wonderful to have nice, pint-sized, plastic containers of your butcher’s stock readied in the freezer, or your own homemade from all those chicken wing tips and necks you’ve saved. But if you come in starved and cold, try this quickie for instant succor. Pair it with some goat cheese smeared on bread, and you have lunch.

can of College Inn chicken soup
half a bunch of watercress
an egg
half a lemon, juiced
optional dollop of plain yoghurt

While the soup is heating, wash the watercress. Tear off and discard coarse stems. Mix egg white and yolk lightly with a fork in a little cup. When the soup comes to a simmer, drop in the watercress, and dribble in the beaten egg (if the egg plops all at once, it becomes an poached mass rather than dainty strands.)

Cook a minute longer, add lemon juice and optional yoghurt, and serve.