Recipe - Chilled Chicken And Avocado Bisque

1 md Avocado; very ripe
3 cup Cold chicken stock; fat
skimmed off
1 cup Sour cream; divided
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper; to taste
1 pn Cayenne pepper OR a few
drops tabasco
2 tablespoon Chives; finely minced
1 Boneless chicken breast;
cooked
1 tablespoon Green or red chiles; minced
or
2 tablespoon Roasted red bell pepper;
optional

Using stainlesssteel knife, peel and pit avocado and cut into chunks.
Puree in food processor or by rubbing through sieve with wooden spoon.
Blend in chicken stock using blender, food processor or wire whisk. Beat in
2/3 cup sour cream until smooth and frothy. Season with salt and peppers or
Tabasco and 1 tablespoon chives. Place in refrigerator to chill and thicken
for 2 to 3 hours. (Can be made to this point up to 24 hours in advance;
cover tightly with plastic wrap.)

About 30 minutes before serving, place 4 soup cups or bowls in refrigerator
to chill. Let chicken stand at room temperature (no more than 30 minutes).
Cut chicken in fine dice or shred. Using fork, beat remaining 1/3 cup sour
cream until thin. Place chicken in chilled cups. Ladle bisque over it.
Drizzle beaten sour cream over it and garnish with remaining 1 tablespoon
chives, minced chiles, roasted red pepper or pimiento, if desired. Serve
cold.

Notes: When we wrote about the return of soups last January, this was our
handsdown favorite. The flavor is rich and the color is beautiful. It's
from ``The Whole World Loves Chicken Soup,'' by Mimi Sheraton (Warner
Books, 1995).

Recipe by: Year's best recipes Compiled by KATHLEEN PURVIS

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #982 by Sue suechef@sover.net on Jan 04,
1998