Chicken quinoa soup/stew

 This recipe was borne out of necessity: my soup and bone broth stockpiles had dwindled; I had a rotisserie chicken that needed to be eaten and turned into more bone broth before expiration; I was drinking whiskey and water and listening to BBC Farsi newscast; I was getting hungry.

I wanted something that would stick to my bones. I miss the canned chicken noodle soup of my childhood but unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, there's xanthan gum and a number of potato byproducts in those cans.

Unfortunately there's only this one photo to preserve the creation of this recipe. I was going to take a photo of it lovingly ladled into a bowl, but it smelled so I good I decided to sample it and before I knew it there was nothing left in the bowl. Ah well, it was delicious albeit tongue-scorching.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrot, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bunch of kale (I used lacinato), coarsely chopped
• 6 mild heat peppers, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups chicken, precooked (I used Whole Foods rotisserie chicken)
• 1/2 cup quinoa, soaked and drained (for a stew-like consistency as pictured, use 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed)
• 3 cups stock (I used my own bone broth)
• 2 cups water
• 1 tblspn coarse sea salt
• 1 tblspn black pepper

Add onions, celery, carrot and garlic to pot and keep on a high heat, stirring occasionally until all vegetables are soft (about 15 minutes)

Add spices, water, stock, kale, peppers, chicken and quinoa to pot, cover and bring to boil.

Lower flame to medium heat, keeping pot covered. Cook for 20 minutes or until vegetables and quinoa are cooked to liking. 

(Makes about 6 portions)

Enjoy! My stew was delicious and almost buttery from the stock, and the quinoa was cooked perfectly. This is better than canned soup any day.