Chicken Soup with Zing

I love soup. A big warm bowl of really good soup can sometimes make the most satisfying meal. Unfortunately, in my experience, even the simplest soups have subtleties to them that make them pretty hard to get just right. I'm certainly not going to stop trying though!

This recipe comes from Barbara Kafka's Roasting: A Simple Art but there is no roasting involved here. I actually haven't made any of the roasting recipes from the book as they all require cranking the oven to 500 degrees F, which just scares me. One of these days, I'll work up the nerve to do it (and buy a roasting pan) but until then, back to the soup.

There aren't a whole lot of ingredients involved here and most of them are for flavour as opposed to forming a substantial part of the dish. This isn't one of those thick, creamy soups that's chock-full of proteins and vegetables and what-have-you. It's light but very tasty and the chicken adds some heartiness to make it into more of a meal.


The soup came out wonderfully! There was a really nice balance of flavours and you could taste all the ingredients, which I love. The ginger and jalapeno gave a really nice warmth, the garlic and scallions added nice flavour and the cilantro gave it some freshness. Now, I'm not very comfortable using lemons in savoury dishes. Every time I've done it, I just don't use the right amount or I don't use it in the right way and it throws something off. I'm happy to say that the lemon juice worked really well in this, lending a nice sour note.

If you're worried about buying a whole bunch of cilantro which seems impossible to use up, fear not and skip on down to Heather's post on cilantro pesto below! As a final note, I can see this dish being easily made vegetarian, with vegetable broth and tofu substituted for the chicken. I'll have to try it some time (or you should feel free to try it out and let us know how it goes!)

Chicken Soup with Zing (from Roasting: A Simple Art by Barbara Kafka)

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth (store-bought or home-made if you're fancy)
1/2 cup water
2 thin slices fresh ginger
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed and chopped fine
6 fresh mint leaves (I didn't have these and they weren't really missed)
3 scallions, white and green parts cut separately lengthwise into thin slices
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup tightly packed cilantro leaves
salt and pepper, to taste

1 to 2 cups cubed cooked chicken: This is suggested as something you can add to give the soup more substance. Bring some chicken broth to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer. There should be enough broth to completely submerge a chicken breast. Poach one or two chicken breasts in the simmering broth for about 12 minutes, during which time you can chop up all the other ingredients. When the chicken's done and cool enough to handle, cut it into 1/2- to 1-inch cubes.

Put the chicken broth, water, ginger, garlic and jalapeno in a medium saucepan and cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 15 minutes.

Add the mint and scallion whites and cook for 3 more minutes.

Add the scallion greens and the chicken and cook for 1 more minute.

Add the lemon juice, cilantro, salt and pepper and warm through.