Colombian Chicken Consomé (Consomé de Pollo)
In Colombia a consomé is simply a good chicken broth: half a chicken with its giblets, a carrot, an onion and a clove of garlic in a pot of water, with parsley or cilantro at the end. It is not the clarified French consommé, and it is not meant to be. Breakfast food, and what gets served for a hangover. Serves six.
Servings: 6
Calories: 36kcal
Ingredients
- ½ chicken with giblets the neck, gizzard and liver; they are where most of the flavour comes from
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1 garlic clove whole, it goes in for flavour
- 1 onion, peeled whole; it comes out at the end
- Salt, to taste
- 2 liters water about 8 cups
- 1 tablespoon parsley or cilantro, chopped stirred in at the end, off the heat
- 2 to 3 potatoes, sliced, optional used in step 2; they were missing from the original list
Instructions
- Put everything into a large pot and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Skim off the foam that rises in the first few minutes if you want a cleaner broth.
- If you want potatoes in it, add 2 or 3 sliced ones after the first 15 minutes.
- Take out the onion, and the carrot too if you prefer, and check the salt. Serve hot with the parsley or cilantro scattered over.
Notes
Thirty minutes is the minimum and it will give you a light, clean broth. Longer gives you more body: an hour is better if you have it, and the flavour keeps improving up to about two. A pressure cooker cuts it to roughly a third of the time. Serve the meat in the bowl or shred it and keep it for something else. It refrigerates for three or four days and freezes for about three months, and the fat sets on top in the fridge, which makes it easy to lift off if you want a leaner broth.
Nutrition
Calories: 36kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 420mg | Potassium: 86mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1770IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg