Jerk Chicken Chili-Soup in the Crockpot

This chili-soup, (I added the -soup part because I didn't add any cornstarch to thicken it. I don't mind it being soupy at all) is surprisingly warming on these chilly November days, considering Jerk is a Caribbean flavoring. The husband and I started taking off our sweatshirts as we tucked into this soup, as the chili-like flavors heated up our cores. The rich smell of cinnamon will fill your kitchen throughout the day, as this soup simmers away in the crockpot.

The soup looks watery at first, but once the chicken is shredded, it definitely thickens up. Because the chicken cooked in the crockpot, it comes apart very easily with a squish of the ladle. You could also take the chicken out and shred with 2 forks but I found that the chicken was falling apart so much as I tried to pick the pieces out, that I just stopped trying. I used water instead of chicken broth and I found the soup to be well-flavored. I've had a few over-salting incidents recently, so I decided with this one, to leave the salt out completely, and just add as much or as little salt as we like at the table.

I made some changes to this recipe to fit what I had in the kitchen. One major change is that I put a raw chicken breast and thigh in the crockpot. I know some people are hesitant to do this, as the chicken will stay at a low temperature for a long period of time. I'm not one to worry too much about that, so this truly is your judgment call. The original recipe suggests using a rotisserie chicken, shredded of its meat but I kind of thought it was a waste to go out and buy a rotisserie chicken, just to rip meat off of it and put it in a soup. I would have rather used the seasoned chicken to make sandwiches or Vietnamese-style salad rolls.

I also used 3 fresh tomatoes instead of a can of diced ones. I had three ripe ones sitting on the counter so that was a no-brainer. For the beans, I just used what I had in the pantry. I've added my changes in parenthesis.

We found this soup to be quite mild. It could definitely be kicked up with cayenne or more jalapenos! It's the perfect winter dish, which will definitely be made again!!




Jerk Chicken Chili (Soup in the Crockpot)
4-6 servings
source: Pam Anderson, Perfect One-Dish Dinners

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped (I used green)
3 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 large rotisserie chicken, meat removed and shredded (about 6 cups) (I used 1 breast and 1 thigh)
4 cups chicken broth (I used water)
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes (I used 3 fresh medium-sized tomatoes)
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) small white beans, drained (I used kidney beans)
2 tbsp chopped pickled jalapenos (I used 1/4 of a fresh one, some seeds included with a tbsp of vinegar)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 oz semisweet chocolate (I used dairy-free)
2 tbsp cornmeal or 3 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water (optional for thickening) (I omitted)

Here are Pam Anderson's directions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add chili powder, thyme, cinnamon, and allspice. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add chicken and stir to coat with spices. Add broth, tomatoes, beans, and jalapenos, bring to a boil, cover partially, reduce heat, and simmer to blend flavors, about 20 minutes.
5. Stir in garlic, cilantro, chocolate, and either cornmeal or cornstarch/water slurry if desired. If you add the cornstarch slurry, bring the heat up to medium-high and allow the chili to thicken. Turn off the heat and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Here are my directions: 1. Add all ingredients except the chocolate and cilantro to the crockpot. Stir well and set to low and cook for 7 hours. 2. After 7 hours, add chocolate and stir to make sure it has all melted. 3. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro.

How to incorporate a skin-on, bone-in chicken breast...

... into your soup! Skin-on, bone-in chicken is always cheaper at the supermarket. Maybe it's because they're sold by weight and so they work out how much the extra bone and skin would weigh? Or it's because they don't have to pay someone to skin and bone the chicken breast? Who knows... I've never tried to de-bone a raw chicken before but just imagine it's just much easier to do when it's cooked.

The idea behind this meal was to cook the chicken, get broth from the skin and bone, and then get the meat off the bone. It worked pretty well so I'll definitely do this again for other soups. Tonight's soup was:

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Adapted from Que Pasa tortilla chip bag
Yield: 4-6 generous servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 serrano pepper, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (you can keep or discard the seeds depending on how hot you'd like it)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 medium tomato, chopped
6 cups water
1 can black refried beans
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
juice of 1 lime
1 skin-on, bone-in chicken breast


Directions

Heat a heavy bottomed, large soup pot on medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, and place the chicken breast, skin side down. Sear for about 2 minutes, then flip and sear for an additional 2 minutes.

Add the onions, garlic, peppers, cumin, and coriander for 5 minutes. Stir to make sure the onions absorb the chicken-y goodness!

Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add the chopped tomatoes and water and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the chicken breast and place on a plate to cool.

Add refried beans (optional: for a smoother soup, use an immersion blender)

Once the chicken has cool, remove the skin and bone. Chop or shred chicken to desired thickness/size. Add the chicken back into the soup.

Add the cilantro and lime juice, and stir well. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
Serve with guacamole, tortilla chips and garnish with cheese and/or sour cream (if you eat dairy).

It was a pretty good soup with a decent amount of flavour. I think it could have been a little better if it had more chicken flavour. Maybe I'll use 3 cups water, and 3 cups chicken stock next time...

Chickpea spinach salad with feta

*Disclaimer: I've been copying and pasting recipes from all kinds of blogs for years now and had been keeping them for my own use. I never thought I'd start a food blog so I never cited the source. If this recipe is from your blog, please leave me a comment so I can properly credit you.

Chickpea spinach salad with feta:



I love chickpeas and I love feta. I decided to indulge the other day at the supermarket and but a block of high quality (or at least the price made me think so) goat feta. Not as salty as the stuff in the brine, which is kind of a bummer because I was hoping the feta would add some saltiness to this salad. Not the end of the world that it didn't though, because it still added a creaminess to it.

I'm not the precise measuring type so all ingredient quantities are approximate.

1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked until soft (you could use 1 can instead)
2 bunches of spinach, blanched, squeezed dry and chopped roughly
1 tbsp good olive oil
juice of 1/4 - 1/2 a lemon (depends on how lemony you like it)
1/4 - 1/2 cup crumbled feta (depends on how feta-y you like it)
Salt and pepper

Place the blanched, squeezed and chopped spinach in a bowl, making sure it's evenly spread out, and leaves are not squeezed together. Pour the chickpeas over top. Drizzle with olive oil, making sure it is evenly distributed. Add lemon juice, tossing to coat all of the spinach and chickpeas. Sprinkle the feta cheese over top and again, toss to distribute evenly. Have a taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

You could keep the spinach raw if you like, but the spinach I had on hand was pretty beat up so I decided to blanch. Your call...

Black Bean Soup

After a long weekend (gotta love Easter) full of rich foods and wine, my body was craving something simple, nutritious, and filling. Black bean soup! This is something I threw together with things I had lying around the house. SO not in the mood to shop on Easter Monday. I added miso paste for depth and saltiness.

Being of Japanese descent, this is something I always have in the fridge. You could definitely use chicken stock or some other kind of stock but would have to play around with the seasonings a bit. Oh, I also used an immersion hand-blender (gotta love those things!)

Lazy day black bean soup

1 1/2 cups dried black beans (soaked over night, simmered for 2 hours until soft, drained)
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 - 1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons miso paste (I think red or white would be fine)
soy sauce, to taste.
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

In a large pot, heat up some oil over med-high and saute the garlic, onions and ginger until the onions are translucent.
Add the black beans, stirring in incorporate onion/garlic/ginger flavours for about 2 minutes.
Add 2 cups water and miso.
Bring to a boil stirring occasionally to help miso dissolve.
After miso has dissolved, simmer for about 5 minutes. Add as much or as little soy sauce depending on how salty you 'd like it to be. You can add more water for for a thinner soup.
Being very careful that the blender is fully submerged in the liquid, pulse until desired consistency is reached. I like it pretty well blended. It's better to stop the blender before moving it around the pot. And never life the blender up while you're still blending, otherwise you'll end up wearing the soup!
Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy!

You could even add some heat to this by adding a few green chiles. I decided to keep mine heat-free to help my body cleanse a little but will definitely be trying this recipe again with some chiles.