Chicken and Almond Soup
Truly, truly unexpected is a pureed soup featuring chicken and almonds, but the texture becomes quite smooth and elegant to the mouth after slow and delicate cooking. This hearty soup is redolent of exotic flavors hard to exactly place . . . serve with toasted dinner rolls or even over a mound of basmati rice. Plenty of vegetables in the bowl already so a simple dessert of sliced pears and apples, along with a good aged Cheddar, could round out a rib-sticking winter meal.
To begin, you will need two cooked chicken breasts, skinned and meat pulled from the bone. You can obviously boil the breasts or roast them or to save time, simply purchase a rotisserie bird.
Grind 1 cup of raw or toasted almonds (not salted however) in a food processor or blender until you have a rough "flour" consistency. Set aside.
In 3-4 T. of butter and 1 T. of olive oil saute 1 sliced leek and about a T. or more of chopped ginger until leek begins to soften. Now add the almonds to the pot along with: 1 chopped carrot, 1/2 cup frozen peas, the shredded chicken, 1 large jalapeno pepper (chopped) and 1 t. salt. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add a little over 2 cups of water to the pot along with 1/3 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped INCLUDING the stems (the most flavorful part of the herb). Cook, covered, on a low flame for about 1/2 an hour or until carrots are very soft.
Puree the mixture in a blender for 2 minutes - you want as smooth a texture as possible although some pleasant graininess will linger from the ground nuts.
Return all to the pot and add 1 cup of whole milk or half-and-half and simmer just under a boil for 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
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