The Whole Enchilada Soup

Call it by any name—Chicken Soup, Jewish Penicillin, Sopa de Lima, Pho, etc.—but just call it Delicious and Healthy.  I was lucky to grow up eating Chicken Soup on a regular basis.  In fact, in our household, every dinner, whether in cold or hot weather, started with hot soup served in large, deep, rimmed bowls.  Dad explained that the hot soup warmed the bowl for the entrée that followed and that was eaten from the same dish.  Mom espoused her theory that imbibing hot liquids on a hot day helped match body temperature with the ambient temperature and thus was cooling.  We drank lots of hot coffee, both at breakfast and after dinner.  I remember Mom packing up freshly fried chicken and hot potato salad and two thermos bottles filled with hot, not iced, coffee for a picnic my brother and I attended with a large group at the Indiana Sand Dunes along Lake Michigan just South of Chicago.  It was a very hot day, and we were the only ones who brought hot food.  Everyone else munched on cold sandwiches and drank many cold drinks but complained of being hot.  My brother and I were perfectly comfortable.  Maybe Mom was on to something, far-fetched as it seemed to me at the time.
 
Back to Chicken Soup. . .there are countless recipes depending on the regions of origin.  The Old World gave us Chicken Soup as made there and in this country by Jewish people.  When I was first married, we rented an apartment in a predominately Jewish community North of Chicago.  One day as I briskly walked to the local supermarket, I overtook three Jewish Bubbes heading there also.  I walked around and in front of them but slowed my pace when I overheard them talking about their plans for Shabat dinner.  Since childhood, I loved eavesdropping; this time I justified doing so by thinking I might learn something.  That something was reverence for food made with care and with love for the people who were going to eat it.  With a smile on my face and gratitude in my heart, I held open the store’s door for these three loving women.
 
In this hemisphere, Mesoamericans cooked Chicken Soup for centuries.  The current version is Sopa de Lima, thanks to the recipe’s lime juice.   The Far East gives us many Chicken Soup recipes, from ancient China to the delicious Vietnamese specialty, Pho.  Thank goodness for Vietnamese restaurants in Santa Fe.  If I begin to wilt after a day’s shopping and errand-running, I often revitalize with a bowl of Pho, which can also be made with meat other than chicken.  One of these days, I shall simply make it at home.
 
My most-requested Chicken Soup recipe is for Chicken Broth by the Rule of Three, but today’s Chicken Soup recipe is The Whole Enchilada Chicken Soup, a fairly recent addition to my recipe file, and it is much easier and quicker to make than Bone Broth.
For a complete meal, serve this soup with corn muffins or corn bread.  Recommended:
James Beard’s recipe for Helen Evans Brown’s Corn Chile Bread with green chile.
 
EnJOY

​This recipe for thick, satisfying chicken soup—from superb California cook Mary Porter—takes very little time to make but is very big on flavor.  Served with corn bread or corn muffins, it is a filling meal.  Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to feed a crowd.
​~Hilda Joy

3 cups chicken broth
   home-made, boxed, or
   canned
2 chicken thighs plus
2 chicken breast halves,
   skin on and bone in

In a large pot, bring broth to a boil.
Add chicken pieces to broth.  Bring back to a boil.  Turn down to a simmer, cooking the chicken for 30 minutes.
Remove chicken.  Cool, skin, bone, and shred it.  Set aside.

​1 cup yellow onion, diced
1-1/4 cups celery, diced

​Bring broth back to a boil.  Add onion and celery to broth, turn down to a simmer, and cook until slightly tender, about 5 minutes.

​1 can, 28-ounce, green-
   chile enchilada sauce
   (or 2 cans, 15-ounce)
1 can, 15-ounce,
   100% pure pumpkin

Stir in green-chile enchilada sauce and pumpkin, stirring until completely incorporated.
 
Bring mixture back to a boil.

the cooked, skinned, boned,
   and shredded chicken
1 cup frozen corn,
   white or yellow

Once soup returns to a boil, add chicken and corn, stirring until completely incorporated.
Lower heat to a simmer and cook soup for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, until just heated through.

​shredded cheese
crushed corn chips
diced avocado

​When serving soup, pass bowls of these three toppings.

​option:  hot sauce

​If even more heat is desired, diners can add hot sauce.

EnJoy

Recipe is from ‘Beard on Bread’ by James Beard, who attributed recipe to Helen Evans Brown.   When fresh corn is not available, a comparable quantity of frozen corn can be substituted.  This best-ever cornbread should be served hot out of the oven.  Recipe can easily be doubled.

​3 large ears of fresh,
   uncooked sweet corn
 

​Scrape kernels from corn and blend kernels with wet ingredients and lastly with dry ingredients.

1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, well beaten
1/4 pound Monterey Jack
   cheese, very finely diced
1 can (4-ounce) peeled
   green chiles, drained
   and finely diced​

​Mix wet ingredients well.

1 cup yellow corn meal
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons double-acting
   baking powder

​Mix dry ingredients well.

​Add dry ingredients to wet, mixing well.  Pour resulting batter into a well-buttered 9-inch square baking pan.  Bake cornbread in preheated 350-degree-F oven for 1 hour.