For What Ails You

Chicken Soup


The secret of the soup: layers of allium - yellow onions, shallot and garlic...add depth of flavour...

What fowl thing lurketh...? The colour comes from the Ancho chile.

Naked, until I remembered I had on the terrace...

...chives!

Chicken Soup:

1 organic chicken

2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped

3 shallots, same

1 HEAD garlic, skinned and thinly sliced

2 carrots cut in half then sliced into half moons

2 dried* Ancho chiles, soaked in hot water; or chile pepper flakes if you can't find Anchos

1 bunch parsley

4 sprigs thyme

juice of one lime or lemon

20 peppercorns

2 tablespoons brown sugar

more salt than you think

* Anchos are dried Poblano chiles, so "dried Anchos" is...redundant.

Sweat onions, shallots and garlic in splash of olive oil. Add carrots. Add whole chicken. Add chile. If you are a wuss remove seeds from the Anchos, but the spiciness is lekker. Cover with water (a bottle of fruity wine would work wonders here, but I didn't); bring to a boil, skim any scum that rises and lower to a simmer, 3/4's covered with the pot's lid. After half an hour taste and add about 5 teaspoons of salt. If you're scared add one at a time and taste each time. Add sugar. And maybe more salt if that was not enough. Cook another hour and a half. Add the lemon or lime juice. Every now and then poke the chicken with a wooden spoon to encourage it to fall apart (this works with people, too).

Once the meat is falling from the bones strain the soup and pick through it to get the bones out. I'm lazy and fish them out blindly from the pot. If you strained, also remove the thyme twigs and sloppy parsley. Shred big bits of meat, and reunite with soup liquid. I reserve the cooked breasts for another use. See tomorrow.

Serve ideally with avocado and fresh cilantro leaves. I had none. I had chives. They were good, too.

11/13/07: You know what. I wasn't thinking. IF you're going to eat this soup with fresh cilantro leaves on top, then don't use the thyme and parsley in the cooking process: use the stems and roots of the bunch of cilantro - very well washed, they're always sandy. But if you go the chive route, by all means stick to the classic herbs. There.