There are many wonderful things about living in New England: history, education, culture, foliage, etc. The perennial nasty winter viruses do not make the list. We have been battling a head cold in our house and in order to expedite its exit, I turned to that time-honored panacea: chicken soup.
I know, I know, you're supposed to use a whole chicken and let it simmer for hours and hours and then strain it and reduce it and basically take the home culinary equivalent of WAY TOO MUCH TIME to make some soup. And in my experience, I always need to add salt or even a bouillon cube after all that effort anyway. Sooooo embarrassing.
Last night, in a burst of sniffly Sunday night coziness, I "cheated" and made a delicious chicken soup that I'm dubbing "multicultural." The cheating part is the store-bought organic low sodium chicken stock I used as a base. I also used boneless chicken breasts that I oven roasted, cut up and added to the soup.
Those two steps saved countless hours. I consider it multicultural because I added pasta (Italian), fresh ginger root (pan Asian), scallions (everywhere) and cilantro (Mexican or Vietnamese). Next time, I may sub in matzo balls (Jewish) for the pasta.
Regardless, this is very satisfying comfort food that comprises a meal accompanied by a salad and bread or breadsticks. Sniffles begone.
Multicultural Chicken Soup
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 quarts chicken broth
1 cup Acini di Pepe pasta
1 carrot, sliced into small rounds
1 stalk of celery, sliced
three scallions, thinly sliced (whites and about three inches of the green)
1 1/2 tbsp peeled and sliced fresh ginger root
fresh cilantro
salt and pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and roast until done, about 30-40 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat.
2. Remove chicken from the oven and let cool. When ready, cut into bite size pieces.
3. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the chicken broth to boiling over medium heat.
4. Add the pasta and let cook for 8 minutes, then turn heat down to medium low or low and keep at a simmer.
5. Add the carrot slices, celery, scallions and ginger and let simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Add the chicken.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Top with sprigs of fresh cilantro.
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