Grounded Earth Chicken Soup

One of my neighbors that I trade food with was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer awhile ago. Due to this, she had to have surgery, afterwards go through chemo treatments for a year. Generally, a day or two after her treatments she had issues with eating and holding down food. Though it was manageable at the start, towards the end of her cycles she was having more and more difficulty eating. I decided to make a chicken soup that was beneficial for digestion and comfort as well as being full of flavor. Happily, after her year of treatment she is now in remission. I know that the medicine and the therapy are what made the remission happen, but I also know that healthy and nutritious food played a huge roll in enabling her body to recover.

I decided to approach this soup to make it helpful for someone going through chemo, in regard to digestion and healing. While doing a light bit of research, the highlights I got were to keep the main ingredients gentle, nutrient dense, high in fiber, and hydrating. It also helps to have a solid blend of spices designed to increase appetite and citrus to enhance everything and help break down the food.

I will be breaking this soup into two parts. The first part is the broth and how to fortify it so as to keep it as nutritious as possible. The second part is for the rest of the soup and how to cook it, to make sure they are adding to the soup, while retaining a refreshing texture.

I made the base of this by following my recipe for Grounded Earth Chicken Broth. With the base, I added a couple of sachet d'epices as well as citrus zest and juice to further enhance it before cooking the ingredients. I made sure not to ever get the soup too hot, as cooking at higher temperatures can reduce effectiveness of some of the ingredients. From there I poached off all the ingredients for the soup.

I cooked the ingredients separately to ensure proper texture and flavor. The best way to do this is to build the soup base in layers. I started by gently poaching the chicken off so that it added it's flavor to the base. Then I cooked the vegetables, starting with the sweet potatoes, then the celery root and finally the mirepoix. I did keep the spinach separate and just poured some hot water from a tea kettle to lightly blanch it. To finish the soup, I cooked off some pastini separately, which I added on pick up. Pastini is a small and easy to digest pasta that helps adds a touch more body to the soup.

This soup was amazing. I will add that my approach to this was not inexpensive. I could have cut the cost by not spending as much attention to the broth, but it was exceptionally comforting and very flavorful, and for me, worth it. If you want to reduce the cost, the best way would be to use bouillon to make a fortified broth and buy the chicken separately. I was intentionally going for a very rich base, so not only did I use purchased broth, that was used to make an actual stock. I know my neighbor appreciated it, and it's the little things that make life a bit nicer.

Enjoy.

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Ingredients

meat from whole chicken, skin and meat removed 2 ea

Grounded Earth Broth 6 qt

water 2 qt

spinach 8 oz

parsnips, peeled, oblique cut 4 ea

carrots. peeled, oblique cut 6 ea

onions, chopped 2 ea

celery, chopped 1 bunch

celery root, peeled, cubed 2 medium

sweet potato, peeled, cubed 2 ea

spinach, thawed, squeezed 12 oz

mandarin, zest and juice 2 ea

lemon, zest and juice 1 ea

ginger, washed and chopped 4 oz

turmeric, washing and chopped 4 oz

garlic, whole cloves 8 ea

shiso leaves 4 ea

lemongrass, chopped 2 stalks

cinnamon, whole 2 ea

star anise, whole 3 ea

Szechuan peppercorns* 1 T

fennel seed, whole 3 T

coriander seed, whole 3 T

soy sauce to taste

rice vinegar to taste

pastini 1 box

*if you don't have Szechaun peppercorns, substitute whole black pepper

Method of Procedure

1. Start by bringing your broth to a gentle simmer.

2. Take your ginger, turmeric, and garlic, then wrap them in a sachet d'epices. With your remaining herbs and spices place them into a second one.

3. Add both to your broth and let steep for about 45 minutes making sure you don't boil it.

4. Add your chicken and simmer it for about 30 minutes until cooked through. Remove and place on a draining rack.

5. Prepare your vegetables and individually add them to the broth, and blanch until tender. Start with your sweet potatoes, then move to your celery root, and finish with your mirepoix and parsnips.

6. While blanching your vegetables, prepare your spinach and pastini. Boil water and pour over your spinach. Let sit for about 6 minutes. Wait until spinach is workable for your hands and squeeze dry. Chop roughly. Prepare pastini according to box.

7. Once the chicken and vegetables are cooled, dice the chicken and combine.

8. Add your chopped spinach.

9. To pick up, add broth, pastini, and chicken and vegetable mixture to a pan and heat on low until hot.