Ginger Chicken Vegetable Soup

With last week’s uncommonly warm weather yielding to Carmel’s typical fog, making soup seemed like a fitting way to spend my lazy Monday morning. I combined two soup recipes found here and here, ending up with what I think is the perfectly hearty & flavorful chicken ginger veggie soup (also known as I added wayyyy more veggies). Enjoy!

BEST FOR- Days you’re feeling under the weather and/or want to clear out your sinuses. 

MUSICAL PAIRING- Home by Dan Croll

Ginger Chicken Vegetable Soup

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes (sprinkle to taste)
64 oz low sodium chicken broth
5 waxy potatoes cut into ½ chunks
¾ large yam or sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 large carrots, cubed
2 cups broccoli florets
4 large celery stalks
1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 10-ounce package frozen corn kernels
2- 2.5 cups diced cooked chicken
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 bunch kale (12 ounces), stemmed and shredded
+ salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium. Add onion and cook until soft, stirring 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cook until fragrant 1 minute.
2. Pour chicken broth into the pot and bring to a boil. Add potatoes, yams/ sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, celery and ginger. Bring the soup back to a boil. Once boiling, cover pot, reduce heat and simmer soup until all vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Purée half to three quarters of the soup (depending on how thick you want the final soup) in a blender.
4. Pour the blended portion of the soup back into the pot. Add the kale. Ten minutes later, add corn and cooked chicken. Simmer until corn is tender, about 5 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. 
5. Sprinkle fresh parsley on top of individual bowls before serving. Enjoy!

NOTES-

* add more or less chili pepper based on your spice tolerance. same goes for the ginger.

* depending on how many of the original vegetables you want in the final soup, halve slightly more or less of the broth before blending it. If you blend one half of the soup, the final product will be mainly kale and corn and chicken, with less of the other veggies in chunks and more blended.