Long Winter Nights and Colombian Chicken Soup

The January issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine features an eye catching bowl of chicken soup on the cover...


Rachel and I came home late from a movie (we went to see It's Complicated) and decided we were starving! While sitting down to a quick bowl of chicken noodle soup form a can, my eye ran across the magazine sitting in front of me at the table.  I flipped trough to the featured article and decided that I needed Columbian chicken soup- YAOWZA!!!  it was delish.


COLOMBIAN CHICKEN SOUP
1 whole chicken (about 4 lbs)
8 cups of water
  coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 medium white onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced and smashed with some coarse salt
6 canned whole peeled tomatoes finely chopped (1 cup)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro (2 cups packed)
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced (not optional, in my opinion)
4 medium carrots, sliced 1/2 thick
1 medium yuca (8 oz), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces


1. Bring chicken, water, and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil in a large stock pot. Skim foam, Add onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, and chile.  Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, partially covered, for 30 mins.
2. Remove breast; cover to keep warm.  Add carrots and yuca.  Simmer, partially covered, until carrots and yucca are tender, about 40 mins.
3. Remove remaining chicken' discard back, wings, and cilantro. Skim fat. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Serve chicken on the side, or remove meat form bones, cut into bite-size pieces and stir into soup.


TWEAKING...
To smash the garlic I minced it and then sprinkled some coarse sea salt on it and ground both together with the back of a spoon on my cutting board.  It produces a good pulpy consistancy.


In retrospect, I would have used a cheesecloth to create a "bouquet de garni" with the cilantro.  It would have been much easier to remove it from the soup before serving.  I did remove it with a little skimmer, and then added fresh cilantro on top before serving.


Martha's recipee makes a note that the traditional way to serve this soup is to remove the chicken and serve it on the side with white rice and a simple green salad with russian dressing.  I wasn't going to make rice or salad, but upon Rachel's recommendation I pulled out some white rice form the pantry shelf and steamed it with some salt and pepper and duck stock I had on hand from the Christmas duck she prepared last week.  To serve I cut the chicken into pieces, returned it to the soup, and ladled the soup into shallow bowls.  I topped it with a scoop of the white rice, sprinkled fresh cilantro on top, and seasoned with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
It was hot, spicy, and sooooooo good!
P.S. good call on the rice, Rach.  It totally completed the dish.