Late one evening I got suddenly hungry and had to go whip something up. For some reason, I was feeling particularly inventive and so I decided to make a soup from scratch. Thankfully, we have a ton of chicken broth lying around, so I got started.I wanted something brothy with chunks of chicken with a nice full flavor. We had just received a bunch of leeks from our organic vegetable delivery and it was time to use some. I think the bulk of the inspiration came from my adapted rustic ranch-style soup recipe, but this time I was going to use leeks for the base flavor.
1leek, halved and sliced thinly (white and an inch or two of the greens only)
1/2lbboneless chicken breast or tenders cut into 1/2″ pieces
1quartchicken broth
2tablespoonolive oil
4clovesgarlic, finely chopped
2tablespoonponzu sauce
1tablespoonsoy sauce
1tablespoonSriracha hot sauce
1cup half and half
1cupchopped cilantro
pinchred pepper flakes
to tastesalt
Instructions
Start by sauteing the chopped leeks and garlic in a medium saucepan with the olive oil. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes – the leeks should be well reduced in volume and quite soft.
Add the chicken broth, chicken pieces, ponzu, soy, red pepper flakes, and sriracha and bring to a simmer. Let the flavors combine for another 5 minutes or so.
Finally, add the half-and-half, cilantro, and salt to taste. Let everything simmer together for about 5-10 minutes to give all of the flavors time to come together.