Chicken simmered in broth with potato, carrot and peas for forty minutes, then pasta added for the last eight. Fifty-five minutes, five servings, and the order is the whole recipe.
Forty minutes, then eight
The structure of this soup is two timings and they are very far apart.
The chicken, potato, carrot and peas go into seven cups of broth and simmer for about forty minutes, until the chicken is tender and giving its flavour to the liquid.
The pasta goes in for the last eight to ten. That is all it needs, and anything longer turns half a cup of small shapes into starch suspended in the broth.
It will not wait
This is the thing worth knowing before you make it. Pasta absorbs liquid whether or not there is heat under the pot.
Served straight away it is a soup. Twenty minutes later it is visibly thicker. The next day the pasta has swollen, gone soft, and taken most of the broth with it.
If the soup has to sit, or if you are making it for tomorrow, cook the pasta in a separate pot and add it to the bowls as you serve. Everything else in this recipe reheats well.
What color means
One ingredient on the list read a pinch of color, with a note saying it was likely annatto or saffron. Whoever wrote that was guessing, and the guess was being published in the shopping list.
In Colombia, color is a specific product: a powdered colouring based on achiote, also called annatto, sometimes cut with turmeric, sold in small sachets. It goes into soups and rice to give them the golden colour that says the pot was cooked properly.
It contributes very little flavour. Turmeric or sweet paprika gives you the same result.
Without the chicken
The five chicken pieces are marked optional and the soup works without them, but the timings change completely.
Forty minutes exists to cook chicken. Potato and carrot in seven cups of broth need about fifteen. Cook them for that, add the pasta, and the whole soup takes half an hour instead of an hour.
More soups
- Sopa de fideos — the thinner one with gizzards.
- Chicken and rice soup — rice instead of pasta.
- Chicken vegetable soup — no starch at all.
- Meatball soup — the other weekday one.
Pasta Soup FAQ
Because half a cup of pasta needs eight to ten minutes and the chicken needs forty. Put them in together and the pasta dissolves into the broth long before the chicken is done.
The pasta drank it. Pasta keeps absorbing liquid off the heat, so a pot left standing thickens noticeably and by the next day the shapes are soft and the liquid has gone.
Only if you cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl. Everything else reheats perfectly well.
A powdered achiote or annatto colouring, sold in sachets, that turns the broth golden. It adds almost nothing to the taste. A pinch of turmeric or sweet paprika does the same job.
No, it is marked optional. Without it this becomes a vegetable soup and it takes far less time: give the potato and carrot fifteen minutes and go straight to the pasta.
Any small shape, which is what the recipe means by pasta of your choice. Small shapes cook evenly in the time given and are easier to eat with a spoon.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 chicken pieces (optional)
- 7 cups chicken broth or water
- 1 potato (peeled and diced small)
- ½ cup carrot (diced)
- ½ cup green peas (optional)
- ½ cup pasta (any small shape)
- ½ onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- ½ teaspoon oregano or cumin
- Achiote or annatto colouring ('color' in Colombia, a pinch)
- Cilantro (chopped)
Notas
Instructions
- In a medium pot, put the chicken broth or water and the chicken pieces. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down low.
- Add the diced potato and carrot, the peas if you are using them, the finely chopped onion and garlic, the achiote colouring and the oregano or cumin. Let it cook for about 40 minutes, until the chicken is tender.
- Add the pasta and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped cilantro just before turning off the heat.
- Serve hot.
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