Sopa de Pasta (Colombian Pasta Soup)
Chicken simmered in broth with potato, carrot and peas for forty minutes, then pasta added at the end. Fifty-five minutes, five servings, and the pasta goes in last for a reason.
Servings: 5
Calories: 212kcal
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
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.
Notes
The pasta goes in at the end and that is the whole structure of the soup. Half a cup of pasta in seven cups of broth needs eight to ten minutes; the chicken and the vegetables need forty. Put them in together and the pasta dissolves into the broth long before the chicken is done. It also means the soup does not keep well. Pasta carries on absorbing liquid off the heat, so a pot left standing turns into something much thicker, and by the next day the shapes are soft and the broth has gone. If you are making it ahead, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl. What Colombians call color is a powdered achiote or annatto colouring, sold in sachets, that turns a broth golden. It contributes almost nothing to the taste. A pinch of turmeric or sweet paprika does the same. The chicken is marked optional, and without it this becomes a vegetable soup that takes far less than forty minutes: give the potato and carrot fifteen and go straight to the pasta.
Nutrition
Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 1279mg | Potassium: 764mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 2288IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 2mg