Recipe - Runaway Ranch Chicken Chowder

1 Three fourths pound Skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoon Unsalted butter
5 ounce Onion
12 ounce Sweet potato, peeled
4 One half cup Chicken broth, or more
2 Serrano peppers, remove
seeds
One half teaspoon Ground coriander
One fourth teaspoon Ground cumin
16 ounce Hominy, canned, drained
2/3 cup Fresh cilantro leaves
Sour cream, if desired

Prep: 15 min | Cook: 40 min Yield: 7 cups; 290 cals per cup, 27.7% cff (8.8
g fat). 1. Remove the skin and fat from the chicken. Cut the meat into
3/4inch cubes. 2. Melt the butter in a 5quart pan. Add the chicken and
cook over high heat, stirring often, until the meat is no longer pink. Be
careful not to overcook it since it will continue to cook when it's
returned to the soup. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set
aside. 3. Cut the onion and sweet potato into thin slices, either with the
thin (2mm) or medium (3mm) slicer of a food processor or by hand. Thinner
slices will cook more quickly. 4. Add them to the same pan along with 41/2
cups of stock or broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and
simmer until the vegetables are very soft, about 20 minutes. 5. Strain the
solids from the liquid reserving both. Puree the solids with the serrano
peppers, coriander and cumin either in a processor or in batches in a
blender. 6. Return the puree to the pan and add the cooking liquid, chicken
and hominy. The soup can be prepared in advance to this point and
refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen. To serve, cook the soup just until
heated through. Thin with One fourth cup broth or water (optional). Add the
cilantro leaves and adjust the seasoning just before serving. Garnish with
sour cream, if desired.

Variation: instead of garnishing with cilantro leaves and the sour cream,
try a dollop of a lowfat cilantrowalnut pesto (commercially prepared; or
make a pesto with broth, no oil).patH

Abby says: "Sweet potatoes are used to enrich this chowder, sans cream, and
color it a deep, sprightly orange. Hominy and big chunks of chicken add
substance, while fresh cilantro and hot peppers lend Southwestern sparkle.
Given its hearty nature, this soup is best used as a main dish, served with
a basket of warmed flour tortillas or corn muffins."

Recipe by: Abby Mandel (1988) More Taste Than Time Posted to Kitmailbox
Digest by PATh phannema@wizard.ucr.edu on Mar 22, 1997