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| Chicken, Kale, Brown Rice Soup |
Which leads me to today, where the aftermath of gluttony has
joined forces with the fear of more holiday season indulgence to come. This state of guilt and pre-guilt usually
leads me to one eating solution: soup. I
want to feel soothed, fill up my belly with lighter fare, and pack in a huge
dose of flavor in the process. This
soup however, though healthy, should not taste like any dieter’s soup.
I had chicken bones leftover from Thanksgiving, but not
quite enough to make a full pot of stock, so I set out to enrich store bought
stock instead. Browning the bones in a little oil then add them to a pot of
premade chicken broth (this works for any poultry bones) is a great way to add
flavor to generic chicken stock without adding much fat.
Next I went to the depths of the vegetable bin, hoping to
use up odds and ends leftover from recent, more elaborate cooking. This was the time to put that stray carrot to
work or the half and onion sitting in a plastic bag. Kale is one of my favorite soup greens, the
hardy leaves stand up well to a long simmer and come packed full of vitamins
and fiber- roughage whose taste is far from rough. Cubed sweet potato, diced red pepper, sliced
mushrooms, just about anything goes.
With a richly flavorful stock and a heap of veg, all that
was left was some protein and carbs to make my soup feel like a complete meal. A little decadent meat can go a long
way. Think two sweet fennel sausages in
a pot of soup that feeds 4-6 people. But
of course, leftover shredded turkey, or chicken in my case, also does the trick. If there is not already tons of potato in the
soup (I had one unused sweet potato in mine), I’ll add a small scoop of brown
rice or even some leftover bread cubes to help thicken up the pot.
Rich broth plus plenty of vegetables plus a little protein
plus some starch equals a guilt-free and filling post Thanksgiving,
pre-Christmas meal. A week of healthy
soup and I’ll be back in form for round two of holiday eating indulgence.
Chicken, Brown Rice,
and Kale Soup
Time: 60 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
2 T. vegetable oil
Chicken bones
8 c. store bought chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 thyme sprigs
1 half medium onion
1 clove garlic
3 cups thinly sliced kale
1 ½ c. diced sweet potato
3 T. olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
1/3 cup long grain brown rice
1/3 cup long grain brown rice
salt and pepper
Heat vegetable oil in a large soup pot over a medium high
heat. Add chicken bones and brown on all
sides. Add chicken stock, bay leaf, and
thyme sprigs to the chicken bones. Bring
pot to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
Let simmer for 20 minutes then strain off broth. Discard bones and herbs. Return strained reinforced chicken stock to
the stove to keep warm for the soup.
While stock is simmering, prep vegetables. Cut onion into a small dice. Mince garlic.
Remove woody ribs from kale then shred the leaves. Peel and dice sweet potato. Heat olive oil over a medium flame in a large
soup pot. Add onion and cook till
softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic
and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in
kale with a bit of salt and pepper. Keep
stirring till slightly wilted, about 3 minutes.
Add sweet potato, oregano, shredded chicken, rice, and reinforced
chicken stock. Bring soup to a boil then
reduce to a simmer. Season with a bit of
salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and
let simmer for about 30 minutes, until rice is tender. Adjust seasoning if necessary with additional
salt and pepper.
Amy Powell is a food and travel writer based in New York City. She is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and the French Culinary Institute. Follow her on Twitter @amymariepowell
