Quickie Caribbean Chicken Soup

A Surprisingly Delicious Soup Created from Memories of Pollo Tropical’s Caribbean Chicken Soup

Hubby has a cold and really wanted a hearty chicken soup for dinner. It was late, we didn’t feel like driving 30 miles to Pollo Tropical for his favorite Caribbean Chicken Soup, so I searched the web for a recipe for same. Finding nothing, I decided to improvise. A quick trip to Publix and in about an hour we had a tasty soup, plenty for four very large bowls. The result: one happy hubby, one blogging wife, and now, you too, have the option to experience the pleasure!

Ingredients:

1 Publix rotisserie chicken, Mojo flavor

1 small calabaza squash

1 green plantain, on the ripe side

Happy Plantain, about this ripe!

1 medium sweet potato

1 small package frozen yuca

1 cup frozen sweet baby peas

1 cup frozen sweet and white corn

1/2 cup diced onions

1-2 tablespoons garlic (minced, fresh or jar)

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried cilantro

2 packets Badia Sazo’n Tropical (con culantro y achiote, with annatto and coriander)

This stuff

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cartons chicken stock (7.6 oz each, College Inn, Bold Stock, Rotisserie Chicken flavor)

Juice of 1/2 lime and 1/2 orange or tangerine

2-4 cups of water

Directions:

Cut the calabaza squash into several large pieces and scoop out seeds and strings. Place skin side up on plate and microwave 5-8 minutes (this step makes it a lot easier to skin and cube)

Meanwhile, saute’ onions and garlic in oil in a large soup pot, until golden brown

Peel and cube plantain and sweet potato

Add these to the onion to saute’ briefly, stirring occasionally to prevent burning

Add the broth, frozen yuca, peas, corn and seasonings and bring to boil

Cut up the chicken breasts and leg meat, discarding skin (or, if you can’t resist, have a taste of the skin before you discard it)

Save the wings for tomorrow’s lunch

Add chicken pieces to the boiling mixture

Keep soup at a lightly rolling boil, stirring occasionally.

Remove the calabaza from microwave and using a knife and fork, carefully (it’s hot!) cut the flesh away from the skin, cubing it as you go and slipping the cubes into the soup

Remove the large chunks of yuca from the soup with a slotted spoon

With a fork and knife, slice these lengthwise into quarters, remove the center spine, then cube the yuca, and return it to the soup (you may not need all the yuca, you decide)

Let cook until the yuca cooks all the way through, tasting and adjusting seasonings/water amount as you wait, adding water as needed to keep enough fluid to stay soup instead of a stew

Ladle into soup bowls and serve with French or Cuban bread slices. Cures what ails ya.

For a different kind of fare, visit my other blog at

joantwarren.com