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.
