Sopa de pollo
Sopa de pollo (pronounced /soh-pah — the — poh-yoh/) means chicken soup. I guess the concept of soup in Spain slightly differs of the one outside our frontiers. For me, a soup is basically flavored stock with some short noodles, or some egg or rice. That’s it.
This sopa is something which reminds me to my grandmother’s house. When I was little and I was invited over her place, this soup was a lot of times on the table. I liked it a lot. It was simple but comforting. Maybe too hot for me, but with the time I also learnt to inherit that love for hot liquids (still, I think I am not the most “advanced user” for temperature in soups, my grandma wins!).
As you can see, it is not only sopa in the pictures. We used to eat the boiled vegetables as a second dish. They are delicious, just hot, with some sprinkled salt and a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar.
I can’t help but cooking this soup very often when weather starts getting cold. Besides, this week I had a cold, so I needed this soup more than ever.
Ingredients for sopa de pollo (about 4 servings)
- 3 or 4 Carrots, peeled and halved
- 2 Leeks, halved, green part trimmed
- Green flat beans to taste (15-20 it’s ok)
- 2 Chicken breasts
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 Onions, peeled
- 1 Tomato
- 2 – 3 potated (1 per serving is quite ok)
- 1 or 2 celery staks (I don’t eat them afterwards, but they give a nice aroma to the stock)
- Drizzle of olive oil
- Salt to taste
Steps
1. Put all the ingredients in a pan.
2. Cover them with water, drizzle with olive oil
3. Let them cook at medium heat
4. There is a point that some foam (see picture beneath) will come out of the food. This foam comes from some impurities of the ingredients. It’s normal, it’s always happens. Don’t freak out and clean it with a skimmer.
5. Cook it with a soft boil until carrots and potatoes are cooked.
6. Stir in some salt to taste.
7. Once everything is cooked, separe vegetables and chicken from stock. If you wish and have around some fideos (translated as noodles… but the common noodles*), you can cook them in some stock give some nice lumps to the stock.
8. Serve vegetables as a second dish. I always discard celery (not a big fan of them) and tomato. Drizzle them with some olive oil and vinegar of your choice (mine is apple/cider vinegar) and salt.
The taste of the soup itself is very soft, but still comforting in a cold day. And I love eating vegetables this way!
Enjoy this fall-winter season dish!
Have a nice week!!
* In the picture above you can see what we call noodles to. Nothing to do with asian stir-fry noodles type ;-)
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No soy muy sopera, pero lo que no tiene perdón del cielo es que, desde que me vine a Madrid, mis sopas han sido siempre de sobre, y si no son de sobre, hago el caldo con Starlux. Menos si es sopa de patata o de tomate, y esas no son muy Ilovetoritlladepatatas, ¿verdad?
Sin embargo, cuando comía sopa de mamá, mi favorita era la sopita de pollo, siempre con huevo cocido, y la sopita de arroz, a la que le obligaba a echarme unas aceitunitas :)
Eso sí, ese fídeo fino no lo como, yo era una niña exquisita (y aún tengo esa manía), mi sopa puede llevar tres tipos de pasta: Lluvia, fídeo del gordo, gordo, o dibujitos. ¿Infantil? Who, me? xD
Un beso!!
@Paula
Cómo no, mi amiga quejándose de algo :-P. Yo, de pequeño, me comía siempre el caldo primero y después me zampaba los fideos solos, me flipaba.
Still, I had to comment this post in English! In Mexico, my dear aunt Vero used to make this very same soup, but we had the chicken and the veggies altogether with the broth. I love this time of the year, because is the time for soups, roasted sweet potatoes and big pull overs :D. Good to know you’re taking care of yourself with this kind of dishes. I hope you don’t get sick again in the short-term future. Keep up the good work, Ana, and please DO take good care :-)
Especially great pictures with this post! I love chicken soup but did not know that the broth and vegetables are served separately in Spain. Your photos make me want to make this right away, and I think I will, tonight.
@Paula
En referencia a las sopas de sobre permanentes olvidando a las caseras para siempre, este es mi pensamiento: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s
:-D
¿Sopa de patata o tomate? Eso es súper guiri ;-) Aquí sobretodo las segundas son un gran favorito, también en UK, recuerdo que en las máquinas de té también había sopa de tomate. Me parecía un poco asquerosito, ahora soy yo quien compra los sobres para tomarlos en mitad de la mañana para matar un poco el hambre… El sabor “tomato creme” es archiconocido por aquí ;-)
¿Aceitunas a la sopa de arroz? madre del amor hermoso, Paula, no de jas de sorprenderme jajajaja.
Iba a decir que a la sopa de pollo además de huevo duro picado, jamón serrano muy picado ya es lo más.
Y en cuanto a los fideos, a mí me gustan los finitos, los llamados cabello de ángel y la “lluvia” (son los puntitos, ¿no?) me encanta (el sobre de sopa maravillas era de mis favoritos en la despensa en Madrid jeje)
@Carlos
Eso del caldo primero y luego los fideos me suena familiar, tenía un par de amigas en el cole que lo hacían también.
Me encanta que se conserve la dinámica de meternos los unos con los otros de un blog a otro :-D
@Carlos
Y ahora in english:
Thanks for your kind words as usual, I will follow your lead and take good care of myself :-)
I still need to try sweet potatoes! I hope I can get to buy some this weekend, I will let you know when I try them at home.
@Leslie
Thanks so much Leslie! I am really happy that you liked these pictures :-)
It’s been a while since you put your comment here but I can’t forget your tweets about this recipe, thanks again!!