Monday, January 21, 2008

Mmm-Mmm Good Monday

According to my Whole Foods “100 Food to Live By” 2008 Calendar (free in stores), January is National Soup Month. Soup is the perfect cold weather meal and there is no way around it…it is cold here today. Yesterday it didn’t even get into the twenties. Time to warm up the family with a comfort recipe that everyone loves.

I got this recipe from my father-in-law (who does most of the cooking in the family), who learned it from his mother. It is the easiest, not-so-fattening comfort food I have ever tasted. Definitely an oldie, but a goodie.

Chicken and Pastry

1 4-5 pound whole chicken, cut up into pieces (I buy the pack where it is already cut up)
3-4 celery ribs, chopped
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, finely diced
1 t salt
1 package soft tortillas, cut in 1” strips

Place the chicken in a large stockpot, cover with water until it reaches 1-2 inches over the chicken. Add celery, carrots, onion and salt. Bring water to a boil and then simmer. After about 20-30 minutes, skim the foam off the top of the water and then check to make sure the chicken is fully cooked.

Let water and chicken cool (if you are in a hurry, you can remove the chicken and cut it up while it is still warm). Remove the chicken and take the meat off the bones (will be falling off) and dice.

Once you are ready to eat, return the chicken to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add a few tortilla strips at a time, until all are in the pot. The strips will become like little dumplings. Let simmer for about 5 minutes and serve.

1 comment:

mommyofmany said...

Mmmmm... this recipe does sound good! I've been wanting to try out some new soup recipes. This one seems to be fairly easy and have "normal" ingredients (as opposed to "weird" ingredients). My children might be willing to actually eat this one! Thanks for sharing!