HealthNotes

Chicken Succotash

• From: The Daily Soup Cookbook

Ingredients

• 4 Tbs unsalted butter

• 1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut up

• 8 cups mineral or filtered water

• 8 ears fresh corn, kernels sliced from cob, about 4 cups

• 1 large Spanish onion, chopped

• 2 celery stalks, chopped

• 2 tsp dried thyme leaves

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 tsp kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 3 garlic cloves

• 2 cups frozen lima beans, thawed

• 12 patty pans (golf ball-size), halved lengthwise, or 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

• 4 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

Succotash refers to the combination of corn and lima beans, a mixture introduced to the early American settlers by the North American Indians.

Directions

• Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon, reserve the poaching liquid, and when cool enough to handle remove the meat from the bones and set aside. Strain the poaching liquid to remove solids, reserving 6 cups, and set aside.*
• Puree about 1 cup of the corn in a blender or food processor and set aside.
• Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and sweat for 4 minutes, until tender.
• Add the thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper and stir to coat the vegetables.
• Add the chicken, reserved poaching liquid, pureed corn, and whole corn kernels.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine the heavy cream and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until the cream reduces by half. Puree the cream mixture in a blender until smooth; set aside.
• Add the lima beans and patty pans to the chicken mixture and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Stir in the pureed heavy cream and tomatoes and simmer for 1 minute.
• To serve, remove the bay leaves and ladle the soup into bowls.