Andrea went from zero to wicked sick in less than 24 hours. She looks and sounds like a zombified Issac Hayes. (Hmmm. Zombified. I think I just made up a word. Sounds correct though. I'm sticking with it.) To heal my sick spouse, I channeled the spirit of the old Asian lady that lives in our pantry. She told me to make Andrea a hot pot. So, I did.Chicken Hot Pot with Tofu (F&W 2008 w/modifications)
Ingredients
- 12 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
- 1 container shitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps thinly sliced
- One 2-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
- 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
- Kosher salt
- 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 1 3/4 pounds), trimmed and sliced into 1/4-inch strips
- One 14-ounce package firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- Rice noodles, cooked.
- Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
- Asian sesame oil, for drizzling
In a large soup pot, bring the stock, mushroom stems, ginger and garlic to a simmer. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Strain the stock into a large bowl and return it to the pot. Season the broth with salt. Bring the broth to a boil; add the chicken. Cook until the chicken is white throughout, about 4 minutes. Divide the mushroom caps, tofu and scallions among eight soup bowls and serve, passing the broth and sesame oil at the table. Or serve everything family style as shown in the crappy photo. I recommend hot sesame oil (flavor not temperature).
Cooking the mushroom stems, ginger, and garlic in the chicken stock made a really easy and really good base that I think we are going to revisit frequently this winter.
