Ajiaco

You definitively have to use guascas if you want to call your soup Ajiaco. It's not easy to get them out of Colombia, but they give this soup its characteristic flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts
• garlic and onion
• chicken stock
• 12 small yellow potatoes, cut in halves
• 2 ears of corn, cut in halves
• 8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm slices
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 8 T guascas
• 1 cups of heavy cream
• 2 T. capers, drained
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced
• salt

Directions

The night before marinate the chicken breasts with garlic, onion and salt. In a heavy 4-liter casserole, put the breasts, add water, cover and cook until the chicken is tender. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Cut the chicken breasts into strips. Cook the yellow potatoes in the casserole with the chicken stock until they start to disintegrate. Add more chicken stock to taste. At this point the soup should be thick and fairly smooth. Add the bunch of scallions, the bunch of cilantro, the sliced potatoes, the guascas, and the corn. When cooked remove the bunch of cilantro and the bunch of scallions. Serve the chicken on soup bowls and pour the soup into the bowls. Pour 3 T. of cream and 1 t. of chopped capers on each bowl. Float the sliced avocado on top. Serves 4.

Submitted 6/13/05.
Source:
Submitted By: Maile Rehbock
tulip@blarg.net
Ajiaco