Sopa Marquis

My mother-in-law, Kay, is in town visiting me this weekend and I, of course, had to make something special for her to eat. After I made my homemade chicken broth last week, I froze half of it and made this soup for Kay. It's a Yucatan soup and it's like Mexico's version of the best chicken soup for the soul. I'm sure you can make this soup with store bought chicken broth, but believe me this soup is superb with the homemade stuff.

INGREDIENTS

• Homemade Chicken Broth
• 8 stalks celery-large outer and pale inner stalks mixes, cut on the diagonal into 1/2-inch slices (about 3 cups)
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut on the diagonal into 1/2-inch slices (about 2 cups)
• 1 pound fideos (thin egg noodles) or angel hair pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 Hass avocados, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS

Make the broth and strain it. Pluck the chicken pieces out and set them aside until they are cool enough to handle.

When the chicken is cool, pull off the skin and discard, then shred the meat coarsely, getting rid of any fat, gristle, etc. as you go. Set the chicken meat aside.

Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Bring the strained broth, celery, and carrots to a boil in a large pot on medium heat. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper, if necessary. Adjust the heat so the broth is simmering and cook until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir the fideos into the boiling water, crushing each handful to break the noodles up as you go. Cook until tender but with a little bit of a bite, about 4 minutes. Drain the noodles and put them in a bowl. Add the olive oil and toss well.

When the vegetables are tender, stir the shredded chicken, avocado, cilantro and lime juice into the soup. Bring the pot of soup to the table, along with the noodles and lime wedges. Spoon some of the noodles into each bowl and ladle some of the soup over them. (Stir the soup with a ladle so you're sure to get some of each ingredient into each bowl.) Pass the lime wedges separately.