Very Gingery and Garlicky Chicken Soup

MAKES 6 SERVINGS • PREP TIME: 20 minutes • COOK TIME: 30 minutes

Sometimes I feel more like a mad scientist than a cook. That’s what soup-making and a pantry full of ingredients can do to you. I’ve noted that soups lend themselves to experimentation because they’re such a forgiving milieu, and here I’ve created a hybrid of chicken soup and miso soup. Miso has that elusive taste known as umami (pronounced “OOH-mommy”), which lends heft to the brew. The miso matches well with the garlic, ginger, and shiitake mushrooms (another source of umami). And because the miso goes in at the end, when the soup is already hot, its probiotics are preserved. That’s great news for your digestion.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely diced
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
Sea salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
2 teaspoons freshly grated turmeric, or 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

6 cups Old-Fashioned Chicken Stock or Magic Mineral Broth
1 1/2 cups cooked and cubed organic chicken breast
1 tablespoon white miso
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 scallions, white and green parts, sliced diagonally
2 cups loosely packed watercress or baby spinach

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion, mushrooms, carrots, celery, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and sauté just until golden, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, ginger, and turmeric and cook for another minute. Pour in 1/2 cup of the stock to deglaze the pot, stirring to loosen any bits stuck to the bottom, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the remaining 5 1/2 cups of stock, bring to a boil over medium heat, then decrease the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chicken. Ladle 1/4 cup of the hot broth into a small bowl, add the miso, and stir with a fork until the miso is dissolved. Stir the mixture back into the soup. Stir in the lemon juice and scallions. To serve, distribute the watercress among six bowls and ladle in the soup. Or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Reprinted with permission from Clean Soups Copyright © 2016 by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson, Ten Speed Press, a division of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA.

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