Ajiaco con pollo (Colombian chicken and potato soup)

It's a perfect day for soup: a cold rainy Sunday in December, just after Christmas.  Today I'm trying to recreate my significant other's mother's recipe for ajiaco con pollo.  This chicken and potato soup is a hearty staple of the capital city in Colombia, from whence my beloved Leo originated.  In doing some quick online research, most recipes refer to the soup simply as ajiaco, and there are several variations of the recipe.  I have decided to follow the notes that Leo took down while helping his mom to make the soup and try for an authentic Bogotan feel.  One variation from these notes is that I am using cubed butternut squash instead of pumpkin (In the frozen aisle at the grocery store: "I don't see any pumpkin." "Well here's some butternut squash, do you think that would work?" "Yes! I love butternut squash!" Case closed.). 

The staple ingredient which "makes" the soup is papa criolla amarilla, or yellow creole potatoes.  These small yellow potatoes are very sweet and have a creamy texture, and dissolve into the soup.  Like all potatoes, they are of Andean descent and are considered one of the best in Colombia.  They may be available at fancier food stores, at Latin groceries, and online.

Ingredients

-3 lbs chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and sliced in half lengthwise
-one small to medium sized garlic bulb, peeled and crushed
-one medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
-1 lb papa criolla amarilla
-4 large red potatoes, skin on, cubed
-1/2 lb frozen cubed butternut squash or pumpkin
-8 mini extra-sweet corn cobs
-one bunch green onions
-1 chicken bouillon cube
-1 bay leaf
-salt, to taste
-capers
-rice, cooked separately
-fried plantains
-can also be served with avocado, sour cream, and spicy aji


Begin by combining the chicken, onion, garlic, bay leaf, bouillon cube, and salt in 8-10 cups of cold water (you can always add more if need be).  I'm using my All-clad stockpot.  Heat all of the ingredients over low heat until they come to a boil.

    Meanwhile, cube your red potatoes.  Once the soup boils, remove the onion.  Add the red potatoes and the corn cobs and return to a boil.  When you can easily pierce the red potatoes with a fork, add the papa criolla amarilla and the butternut squash.  Allow the chicken to cook thoroughly, then remove, shred (with forks or hands), and return it to the soup.  Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens to the desired texture.  Just before serving, slice up your green onions and toss into the soup for a little bit of crunchy texture and bright taste.  Serve the soup with rice and fried plantains on the side, and add capers as per personal preference to each bowl.  This is a superbly savory and comforting soup with a simple execution.   

See also: Ajiaco: Colombian Chicken and Potato Soup (Serious Eats)

Potato and Barley Stew in Turkey Broth

Don't throw away that turkey carcass from Thanksgiving!  Instead, use it to make a rich and satisfying broth.  I had a lot of potatoes and barley, so I decided to use my home-made turkey stock to make a thick stew.  This recipe does take a lot of time but minimal effort is required (other than if you were the one who cooked the Thanksgiving turkey).

To make the stock, I simply put the carcass in a pot large enough to hold it, covered it with water, added two bay leaves, quartered an unpeeled onion and tossed that in too.  I covered the pot and brought the whole mix to a simmer over very low heat for hours on end.  I was at home all day, so the total time simmering probably ended up being around four or five hours.  If you don't want to wait that long, keep in mind that the longer you can keep the bird in the water, the more flavorful your stock will be (although seriously, I think my five hours was a bit overkill).  I'd say no less than two hours simmering.

Remove all solid detritus from the broth.  This is easier said than done- even after spending five or ten minutes with a slotted spoon, a couple of small bones escaped my efforts.  If you don't mind making a larger mess, strain the broth through a fine sieve into another bowl or pot.  This should nearly eliminate all unwanted debris from your broth. 

From here, you have some options.  You could freeze the broth for future use in soups or gravy, or you could go right ahead and use it immediately.  This is what I did.  I decided not to salvage the bits of meat from the carcass, as I sampled some of it and found the texture wanting.  In any case, I had all the turkey flavor I could want in my broth.  I chopped about six potatoes into bite-sized pieces and added them to the broth, followed by roughly a cup and a half of pearl barley and a cup of frozen corn. 

For seasoning, I used black pepper, a bit of cayenne pepper, and cumin.  I stirred everything together and allowed it to continue simmering for about an hour and a half.  Both the potatoes and the barley thicken the soup tremendously, and they make for a filling meal.  The corn adds notes of sweetness to the palate.  I'll admit, I was dubious about how exactly this recipe would turn out, fearing a bland and mushy end result.   I was pleasantly surprised at the first mouthful.  The simpleness of the recipe brings out how lovely the texture and delicate flavor of barley really is.  The potatoes were a nice complement, adding substance and a contrasting mouth-feel.  My turkey broth lent richness and a holiday flavor over it all; cumin and cayenne added a touch of excitement.  Easy and flavorful, this one was a winner.

Smoked Ham and Lentil Stew

What's one to do with the bone from a perfectly good roast smoked ham?  I had plenty of the latter left after mine and Andrew's private Thanksgiving feast this past Sunday, as Andrew had rather zealously brought home a twelve pound ham for the two of us.  A good deal of it went into two separate pot pies and several ham sandwiches, but still- I had the bone.  And of course, being the soup lover that I am, I knew exactly what to do with it.
     This is an extremely simple and satisfying recipe.  It consists of simply combining all of the ingredients into a large pot for about two and a half hours and results into a filling, hearty meal.  As a bonus, not only did I have all the meat on the bone, but I had roughly a pound or two left from the fatty end of the ham itself.  This significantly bolstered the recipe in terms of volume, flavor, and filling ability.



Ingredients

1 lb lentils, rinsed
1 leftover ham bone
1-2 lbs ham, cubed into bite-sized pieces (and trimmed of most of its fat)
3 medium potatoes, cubed into bite-sized pieces 
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1/2 lb baby carrots, chopped into bite-sized pieces
6 cloves fresh crushed garlic
12 cups water
black ground pepper, to taste
cumin, to taste

Reserving the cubed ham pieces, combine all of the above ingredients and stir well into a large pot.  Bring to a simmer, and simmer over low heat for about two hours and thirty minutes, occasionally stirring.  This allows the ham bone to turn the water into a delicious ham stock, and for the cook to be able to strip the bone of any stubborn pieces of meat.  Remove the bone and allow it to cool after this time has passed, and add your reserved ham pieces.  Once the ham bone has cooled, salvage what meat you can and put it into the soup, discarding the rest.

That's really all there is to it- low heat and patience yields one of the few recipes that I have ever made that doesn't require seconds to make me feel full.