Recipe of the week

With a hat tip to Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen, said Emily Heil in The Washington Post, here is my version of a startlingly green, cold-battling chicken soup that Hayden devised and that recently went viral.

Swamp soup (green chicken soup)

5 cups unsalted chicken stock or broth • 4 cups loosely packed baby spinach • 2 small skinless, boneless chicken thighs • ⅓ cup long grain white rice • 1 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, plus more for serving • fine salt and black pepper • 4 cloves garlic • 2 to 3 jalapeños, stemmed and seeded, plus thin slices for serving • 2 scallions, roughly chopped • 2-inch-piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped • soy sauce or tamari, for serving • lemon or lime wedges, for serving

• In a large pot over high heat, bring stock to a steady boil. Add spinach and cook until wilted and shrunken, 1 to 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or spider, transfer spinach to a heatproof blender. • Add chicken to stock and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to a cutting board, let cool slightly, then use two forks to shred. • Add rice to pot, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until liquid thickens, about 30 minutes.

• Meanwhile, to the spinach in the blender add parsley, ¼ cup stock, ½ tsp salt, garlic, jalapeños, scallions, and ginger. Cover, gradually increase speed to high and blend until smooth, about 1 minute, adding more stock if sauce doesn’t blend well. • Return chicken to pot; stir in half the herb puree. Taste, then add puree and/or salt, plus black pepper, as desired. • Ladle into bowls and serve with soy sauce or tamari, parsley leaves, jalapeño slices, and lemon or lime wedges. Serves 2 to 4.