Light and Tasty Chicken Soup

This dish inspired me while traveling in Thailand. One night I had become a little ill and the wonderful cook at our condo made me this clear broth soup with shredded chicken and the flavors of ginger and leeks in the broth. I recreated it at home with a few twists:



Here is what you will need:

For the stock:
o A whole roasted chicken (I buy the ones that are already done in the deli at the store, of course you can roast your own)
o 10 – 12 cups of water
o 1/2 lemon
o 2 gloves of garlic
o 1/2 yellow onion
o 1 root of ginger
o 2 bay leaves

Soup contents:
o 2-3 cups of shredded chicken
o 2-3 med size red potatoes
o 1 cup frozen peas
o 1 cup sliced carrots (make it easy if you want and just use 2 cups of frozen peas and carrots!)
o 1 med size rutabaga or a turnip
o 1 leek (stem trimmed off and then sliced thin) if you can't get leeks, green onions work well too

Start out by shredding all or at least most of the meat off the whole chicken and set it aside.

Take a big piece of cheesecloth (you can just dump all the contents into the water, but the cheese cloth keeps the broth clearer). Fill the cheesecloth with pieces of the chicken/bones -- the leg bones, wings, breast bones, just break them up -- take most of the skin off, but leave a little for flavor in the broth, put in the 1/2 lemon, 2 gloves of garlic, 1/2 onion cut in chunks, a few chunks of the ginger root, and couple bay leaves. Wrap this all in a bundle and tie it together and drop it in the pot of water. If for some reason you don’t have fresh ginger or garlic, you could just add ginger and garlic salt to the water, about a ½ teaspoon of each. After the broth has cooked remove the cheesecloth pouch and discard.

Bring to boil and then simmer it for at least 1 hour, 2-3 is best so the flavors will come through in the broth. If you notice film on top while simmering, just skim it off. Again, if you don't have cheesecloth you will have quite a bit to skim off.

Take about a half-cup of your broth after it has cooked for ½ hour or so and add to the shredded chicken and put that in the oven on a low heat so it stays warm.

About 30 minutes before you are ready to eat the soup:

Cut up the potatoes and rutabaga into small (diced) pieces and boil them in a separate pot for about 10 minutes, you want them cooked but still a bit firm, right before they are done add your peas and carrots to cook about a minute or two.

Then it is time to serve it up:

Take some big deep or oval bowls and start out by placing a couple large table spoons of chicken in each bowl, then add the cooked veggies, then top it with the sliced leeks or green onions and now just ladle in the steaming hot broth in each bowl.

I like topping each bowl with a few fried onions, a bit of fresh Parmesan cheese. Also, I don't put salt or pepper in the broth; I let each person add what he or she wishes.

Serve it up with crunchy french bread, some slices of smoked gouda cheese and olives.

Few other ideas:
o If you really want to make this quickly you can use store bought stock and buy some pre-cooked chicken. Or, you could boil the chicken breasts in stock and shred those.
o You can cook the veggies right in the stock if you want, I prefer to cook them separately and then portion each bowl out before serving.

Let me know if you try the dish and/or if you change it up in any way. It is a very light, comforting and refreshing meal. Good in any season and if you are feeling a little under the weather, perfect!