Best Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 1 whole 3-4lbs chicken
• 1 medium onion cut into wedges
• 3 cloves garlic smashed with flat side of knife
• 2 stalks celery leaves and stems chopped
• Stems and roots from 1 bunch of cilantro
• 2 bay laurel leaves (or 1 California bay leaf)
• 1 Tbs kosher salt
• 2 carrots each cut into 2-3 large pieces
• 1 avocado
• cilantro and lime for serving

Method

Put the chicken in a stock pot just big enough to hold it. Scatter the onion, garlic, celery, cilantro, bay leaves and salt around the chicken. Cover the chicken with water, put a lid on the pot, and bring it to a boil over high heat. Continue boiling for 5 minutes. Then, turn off the heat, allowing the chicken to poach in the water for 45 minutes (don’t open the lid during this time).

When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the stock and allow it to cool off enough to touch. Remove and discard the skin then strip the meat off the bones into bite size pieces. Cover the chicken and refrigerate until the soup is done.

Return the bones back into the stock pot along with any collected juices from the chicken. Cover, and return the soup to a boil. When it boils, turn down the heat and simmer for 3 hours.

Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve and discard the solids. Skim off any excess oil then add the soup back to the pot along with the carrots. Cook the carrots until tender and salt the soup to taste.

To serve, put down some chicken, carrots and avocado in a bowl. Pour the hot stock over everything and garnish with cilantro and a wedge of lime.

Keywords – Chicken soup, cilantro, avocado, laurel leaves, medium onion cut into wedges.

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