Day 5

since day four amounted to little more than frying up some corn tortillas, smearing them with refried beans, and topping the tostadas with leftover chopped up warmed through chicken from sunday night’s dinner, cheese and pico de gallo, i’m skipping ahead to tonight’s dinner (because i just basically told you how to make kick ass tostadas without doing an entire post with a no-recipe recipe. you’re welcome). there’s this drool-worthy picture in rick bayless’ book of this chicken and vegetable soup. his looks better than mine of course, but this was pretty warming and satisfying. i changed it up, of course, because i picked up a really beautiful, textbook perfect chayote at the jackson grocery store weekend before last and i had to use it (not because it was turning bad or anything, but i’ve been bypassing it in the crisper just waiting to make this soup to use it). it tastes … like … cucumber raw, but lightly cooked, it tastes totally different. i think this would be great in a fresh, raw salad type thing with other squash and zucchinis, red wine vinegar, etc.

Caldo de Pollo con verduras de la huerta
recipe adapted from Rick Bayless

You need:

boneless skinless chicken breasts, or thighs (whole)
olive oil
lime juice
salt and pepper
finely minced garlic clove
very finely minced up jalapeno or serrano
chicken stock (i used a whole box)
diced onion
diced tomato
more minced garlic
whole baby carrots, or larger carrots rough chopped
little red potatoes or small yellow ones, cleaned and rough chopped into pieces
ear of corn
a chayote, diced up
cilantro and more lime juice for topping
corn tortillas

in a bowl, combing the minced garlic and jalapeno with salt and pepper and lime juice. drizzle some olive oil in and mix it altogether. add your chicken to the bowl and let it sit for awhile to marinate (you can do this a day ahead). meanwhile, in a soup pot, combine the chicken stock, garlic, onion, and tomatoes. let this come to a boil, then lower the heat and let it boil gently for about 20 minutes. rick removes the solid bits in his recipe; i left mine in. heat up a grill. while that’s getting hot, rub some olive oil all over your ear of corn (that is not a euphemism for something else, i swears). add your chayote, carrots, and potatoes to the broth mixture. salt and pepper this if you feel like it and let it simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender. while this is happening, put your chicken on the grill and get it started. halfway through while that is grilling, add the corn. cook both until the chicken is done and well browned, and the corn is also charr-y. don’t burn it though. take these items off the grill and let the corn cool enough to handle. using a sharp knife and standing the corn up, run your knife down the sides, extracting the kernels. this is best done in a deep bowl so you don’t have corn kernels flying off every which way. add these to the soup pot. squeeze some lime juice into the soup while you’re at it. to serve, put your chicken in bowls, and ladle the vegetables over. serve with cilantro on top and some avocado slices. eat with the corn tortillas.

cooking music: Neko Case, Middle Cyclone