Peruvian chicken soup

[ellen_fremedon]

That's [[Peruvian chicken] soup], not [[Peruvian] chicken soup]-- I made this with a chicken from my local Peruvian chicken take-out place, but any rotisserie chicken would work (though possibly with some adjustment of seasonings.)



Day One: Dinner

Buy a rotisserie chicken and have some of it for dinner. After dinner, pick over the carcass: pick off and reserve the meat that comes off in nice big pieces and the choicer bits of skin, and toss the rest of the skin, bones, and gristle into a slow-cooker along with all the small fiddly bits of meat that adhere thereto. Toss in a wedge of onion and add water to cover. Set to simmer on LOW overnight.

Also overnight, soak 1/2 pound white beans.

Finally, dice 1 large white onion, 6 small white potatoes, and some canned chipotle peppers-- however many you like: I used 2, and the results were flavorful but not really hot; I will probably use 3 next time. Mix in a large bowl with 8-12 oz frozen sweet corn, 2 teaspoons cumin, and adobo sauce from the chipotles to taste. Set aside in the refrigerator.


Day Two: Morning

In the morning, drain and rinse the beans. Strain the chicken broth through a colander or sieve. Refill the slow cooker with the potato mixture and the beans, and pour in broth to just cover. (You may well have leftover broth; refrigerate or freeze it for later use.) Set it to simmer on LOW all day.


Day Two: Dinner

In the evening, turn off the slow-cooker. Sample the broth and add salt to taste. Stir in 1/3 C to 1/2 C cornmeal to thicken-- masa harina would probably be ideal, but I used ordinary yellow stone-ground and it was just fine. Lastly, chop all or some of the reserved chicken and add to the soup. Let it sit until the chicken is warmed through, about five minutes, and serve.


Makes about a gallon of soup. Leaves at least two person-meals' worth of chicken, and probably some leftover stock also.

Comments

[sanj]

That sounds super-yummy. What would you do to make it corn-free? Or will this variant not survive a de-cornification?

[ellen_fremedon]

I think the main thing would be to use a mixture of small firm potatoes and starchy baking potatoes, so the potato starch would thicken the soup without recourse to cornmeal-- maybe 1 medium russet and 3 little waxy potatoes?

Once you've made that change, any other reasonably flavorful vegetable could stand in for the sweet corn-- anything that can stand up to slow-cooking and would taste good in chili would be good here. A sweet potato, or some roma tomatoes, or a handful or pink or black beans (maybe with a bit of orange zest or epazote). Or okra, which would also act as a thickener. Or possibly some green olives.

Or you could add in a couple of handfuls of torn-up greens, at the same time you add the chicken: lamb's quarters, chard, spinach, or even a tougher green like lacinato kale or collards, if you'd blanched them ahead of time.

[via_ostiense]

CHARD! That sounds awesome, and I have chard in the freezer!