I get off the bus halfway home, because I have a shopping list for Whole Foods. Mostly produce, and also a rotisserie chicken – a cheater’s fast way to make homemade chicken soup.
Wow. Two bag’s worth. Nothing fits in the backpack – too many textbooks there.
It’s cold. I hadn’t noticed that earlier, but now that I am walking into the evening wind, I feel the slap, right in the face. My eyes start to tear. Could it be that little ice particles are forming around the wet lashes? It feels awfully brittle up there...
I move forward.
Past one gas station, another. I have my camera, but I have no interest in stopping. And for what, anyway? So that you can see that I have both a Shell and a Mobil within walking distance of home?
I walk by Mr. Monetti’s tailor shop. I like passing his store. You always see either Mr. or Mrs. Monetti at the machines, repairing items of clothing that basically don’t look well on us. We give them to the Monettis in the hope that suddenly a transformation will take place and we’ll look fabulous. And if anyone can do it, they can, for the Monettis themselves look fabulous: he always wears pressed slacks and a pressed shirt, she looks like she is on her way to an opening night at the opera.
I hesitate. If I put my bags down, I may take out my camera and get a bad photo with reflections of traffic in their windows. Not worth it. I take a step forward. Oh-oh. The handle on the grocery bag tears. And now it’s like the old days: carrying the bags as if they were two naughty toddlers, as I grind my teeth, wanting to wipe the near frozen eyelids, but not having the hands to do it.
Life is so full of small challenges.
At home, I make soup. Madame Defarge knitted, the Monettis sew, I make soup. Chicken tortilla. Without the tortillas (I forgot to buy some).
How do you make a fast home made soup with a rotisserie chicken? What do you use for the broth?
ReplyDeleteBeau: There's the easy and the super easy way. On this day I opted for the super easy.
ReplyDeleteSo, I pull out the chicken meat, having chosen the very largest roasted chicken. I do not understand why, but Whole Foods charges a flat $7.99 for a bird -- whether it's a small or large one.
Then I get a pot with olive oil going, and I wilt onion, celery and carrots in it,
then I add (a medium can (!) of organic diced, no salt) tomatoes,
then a box of (organic low sodium) chicken broth and maybe a cup more of water,
and a can of white (eg great northern, organic, or garbanzo) beans,
I cook it up some, add the chicken, herbes de Provence (basically some combo of thyme, basil, savory), cumin, salt and pepper, lime juice, chopped parsley, green onion, and at the very end -- chopped avocado and a few pieces of poblano pepper if I want to remind myself of how nice Mexico was. You could also add cilantro if Ed isn't eating with you.
If I had wanted to put in just a tiny bit more effort, I would have cooked the discarded bones and skin from the rotisserie chicken and added that broth to the store bought one, but honestly -- my version tastes very homemade!
Thanks for the recipe, Nina- can't wait to make it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response.
ReplyDeleteIf mine even looks like your version I'll be happy. Will try it tonight avec cilantro.
Hi Nina, The "naughty toddler" analogy is what caught my eye. Walking with bags of groceries is exactly like that! Heavy, unwieldy. And the effort still needed once home... not like in a car where you drive thru for food and unload them, sleeping, right up to bed. The "Good Life" is so much more work! - Amy
ReplyDeleteLove Mr. Monetti. He's a handsome fellow.
ReplyDeleteSuccess! The soup was delicious. As I was following through your directions I realized that if you ever write a cookbook you'll have to called it 'The Intuitive Cookbook' or something similar.
ReplyDeleteNo measurements, a bit of this a bit of that; cook it some.
'Did you enjoy Julie and Julia'?
Beau: I did like the movie! I own it (and there are very few out there that I have purchased), even as my sympathies are so much more with the cook than the blogger! :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Likewise cook v. blogger. I liked picking up a couple of hints along the way....that meat needed to be dried off completely before sauteing. I'd missed that throughout fifty years of cooking.
ReplyDeleteThis soup sounds ideal....how to the tortillas (if you have some on hand) come into play?
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd love it if you did write the cookbook someone else mentioned!