50. Smokey Sweet-Potato Chicken Stoup

I tried a recipe from Rachael Ray’s Express Lane Meals tonight ( ISBN 1-4000-8255-2). “Rach” does such a good job of making meals fast, but I don’t usually make them quite as quickly as she does. She does the “chop and drop” so well, but I like to get everything chopped and ready to go before I start. It takes me longer, but I guess I’d rather enjoy the cooking experience rather than rush it. So, with this recipe I used a combination of her technique and mine.


Smokey Sweet-Potato Chicken Stoup

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (twice around the pan)
2 medium carrots
2 celery ribs
1 large onion, peeled and halved
1 large sweet potato
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 chipotle chili in adobo, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper
½ teaspoon dried thyme (eye ball it)
1 quart plus 1 cup chicken stock
1 package chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces
4 scallions, thinly sliced
¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, a generous handful, coarsely chopped
½ cup sour cream for garnish (optional)

Heat a soup pot over medium-high heat with the EVOO. While the oil heats, cut the carrots in half lengthwise, then slice into thin half moons. Add the carrots to the pot, stirring to coat the carrots in the oil. Chop and drop in the celery and onion, chopping them as small as you can, but don’t make yourself crazy.

Peel and then cut the sweet potato into quarters lengthwise, then thinly slice them into bite-size pieces. Add the sweet potatoes, garlic, and chipotle and stir to combine. Season the veggies together for 1 minute. Add the wine to the vegetables and reduce for a minute. Add the stock to the pot, cover the pot, and raise the heat to high.

When the stoup boils, remove the cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Add the cut-up chicken and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through. Turn the heat off, discard the bay leaf, and stir in the scallions and cilantro. Serve each portion of stoup with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Changes and Shortcuts:

As I said, I chopped some things ahead of time rather than using the chop and drop technique. I also had a some cooked chicken on hand, so I used that instead of raw chicken and I would do that again. The chicken then just has to be heated in the soup at the end, rather than cooked. “Rach” doesn’t specify how much chicken to use. I only had one chicken breast in the fridge. The soup was good with just that, but I would have liked it better with more—maybe double.

Results:
This was a very good, spicy soup. I didn’t think of it ahead of time, but some nice crusty bread would have gone well with this. Rachael calls this a stoup—thicker than a soup but thinner than a stew. I would have called it soup—but I’m sure with more chicken it would be closer to my idea of stoup.


Keeper? Yes!