Cooking in Real Time

RERUN Episode 26: Chicken Noodle Soup with Chipotle Pesto, plus Baked Sweet Potatoes

11.12.2019 - By Zora ONeillPlay

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This week, it’s a menu for winter doldrums. I’m nursing a light cold with some chicken soup–and adding chipotle chiles and garlic for extra health-giving kick. On the side: a baked sweet potato, packed with vitamin C.

Shopping list

* 2 chicken thighs, bone-in * 2 cups chicken stock * Pasta (or pearl couscous or rice) * Flour or corn tortillas * Cashews * Sweet potatoes * 2 carrots * Celery (optional) * Grape tomatoes * Small bunch cilantro * 1 lime * 1 onion * 5 cloves garlic * Butter * Olive oil

Chicken Noodle Soup with Chipotle Pesto

This is basically a very generic chicken noodle soup, but with a handful of details that make it super-flavorful: with the fresh chicken and the toasted pasta (you could also use pearl couscous, orzo or even rice), it’s a lot richer than a soup made from just canned broth. All the trimmings (cilantro, the chipotle pesto on top, a squeeze of lime) make it semi-Mexican, but you can adapt the basic soup any way you like–take out the tomatoes, add different herbs and spices, mix up a different sort of pesto to dab on top…

serves 2

2 chicken thighs, bone-in

Drizzle olive oil

1 onion

Salt

5 cloves garlic

2 cups chicken stock

2 carrots

2 ribs celery (optional)

Large handful grape tomatoes

1/2 avocado

Large handful noodles of your choice (elbows, etc.)

2 chipotle chiles in adobo

Small handful cashews

1 lime

Small bunch cilantro

Flour or corn tortillas

Chop one chicken thigh up roughly into 4 or 5 pieces, cutting through the bone if possible. Set a heavy soup pot on medium heat; add a small drizzle of oil, just to coat the bottom. Add both chicken thighs (the cut-up one and the whole one, skin-side down) and let brown.

Chop the onion into rough slices and add to pot with chicken, alongside. Sprinkle a bit of salt over the onions and the chicken. Peel and chop the garlic coarsely.

When the chicken is somewhat browned and no longer shows any pink, remove the whole chicken thigh and set it aside; leave the remaining pieces of chicken in the pot. Add the garlic to the onions and stir and fry briefly. Put the lid on the pot, turn the heat to low and let the chicken, onions and garlic steam for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Peel your carrots and slice them into half-inch chunks. (If using celery, cut into quarter-inch rings.) Slice the grape tomatoes in half (using this genius method). Cut the avocado into cubes (as at left) and set in your serving bowls.

Check on your chicken in the pot–when the onions are soft, and the chicken has given off a little liquid, add the chicken stock, scraping up any browned bits off the bottom of the pan as you stir the mixture together. Turn the heat up to medium-low and toss in the carrots. Also remove the skin from the whole chicken thigh and return the meat to the pot.

Set a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add a tiny drizzle of oil. Add the dry pasta, stirring well to coat each piece with oil. Fry, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is toasted and brown, 3 or 4 minutes. Immediately remove the pasta to a small bowl, to keep it from browning further in the pan.

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