Chicken Soup with Quince, Celery and Saffron

It may the basis for much of their humour, but Jewish culture does not have a monopoly on the chicken soup thing. At the first sign of a sniffle, Iranian mothers are out with the soup-pot, shovelling vats of (actually rather tasty) chicken broth down the throats of anyone who crosses their path. An Iranian housewife on a mission is most certainly not to be messed with. Although I have learned a lot of deeply useful herbal lore from my mother-in-law, I still try to conceal any incipient illn