​Iberian Style Chicken, Chickpea and Chorizo Soup

The secret to this soup is the stock.  It’s one of the soups I make when I have enough scrap chicken carcasses stored in the freezer to make stock.  It’s also one of the few instances where I will use a pressure cooker/InstantPot.
 
Stock:

• 2 chicken carcasses (and any necks or organ meats you may have)
• 2 leeks – green tops
• 1 onion quartered
• 3 carrots—I use the ones that may have lingered too long in my fridge – but these are the giant ones, not the little ones.
• 1 ½ cups of mushrooms – I use a mix – usually some reshi, some shitake, and whatever I have fresh or homegrown. 
• 1 Parsnip

 
If I have celery, I will add it as well.  The trick is to balance the savory flavors from the mushrooms with the sweet flavors from the carrots and parsnips.  I add this to the pressure cooker and cover it with water (to the fill line).  I then pressure cook it for 2 ½ hours.  It’s important to let it cool enough to de-pressurize on its own, otherwise you will have a very messy kitchen.  If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this stock on the stove by adding all the ingredients, filling it with water, and simmering (covered) for six-eight hours.
 
Once my stock is finished, I set up three bowls, one larger than the next.  I also grab two mesh strainers that can sit over the bowls and I have a smaller mesh strainer that fits over my storage containers. 
 
In the small bowl, I start to add my chicken carcasses and cooked chicken pieces.  In the medium sized bowl, I set the strainer up and begin to add my vegetables.  I pull out the carrots and parsnip and put it into my blender.  Once all the solids have been removed, I press out the remaining liquid from the vegetables through the strainer.  Now – the stock is still inside the InstantPot.  I discard (or compost) the vegetables and add a little of the strained liquid from the veggies into the blender and puree the carrots and parsnip with it.  The result should be a thick paste.  At this point, I will set up the big bowl with a clean strainer, line it with cheesecloth (or paper towels) and ladel the soup stock into the bowl. 
 
At this point, my stock is strained and in the big bowl, my carrots are pureed and in the blender.  I now separate any meat from the bones of the chicken and put them aside for the soup (discarding or composting the bones). 
 
I will strain my stock one more time before putting it into storage containers (I put a smaller strainer with cheesecloth over the container). 
 
The Soup:

• 1 package of Iberian Chorizo (diced)
• Pureed carrot/parsnip mixture
• 1 large onion, large dice
• 1 large carrot, large dice
• ½ a parsnip, large dice
• ½ head of broccoli florets, broken into bite sized pices
• 1 can of chickpeas (keep the liquid)
• 1 cup of mushrooms (of your choice)
• ½ lb of greens of your choice (these were beet greens) loosely chopped
• 1 chopped beefsteak tomato
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 8 cloves minced garlic (I know that sounds like a lot but I promise, it works)
• 4-5 quarts of fresh chicken stock (see above)
• 1 tbsp olive oil

 
In a large dutch oven, sauté the chorizo on medium heat until it begins to render its fat. Quickly remove it and put it aside.  Add the onion to the pan with the chorizo fat and some olive oil. Season the onions with sea salt. Once they start to turn translucent, add the garlic, fresh carrots and parsnip and mushrooms, season again with salt & black pepper and sauté for about 1-2 minutes.  Then add the puree. Put the Chorizo back into the pot.  Add the can of chickpeas and its liquid, broccoli, the tomato and tomato paste and chicken stock (to about two inches below the edge of the pot).  Bring to a simmer and cook until the carrots begin to soften.   Stir in the greens and cover the pot off the heat until the greens begin to wilt. 
 
Serve with grated parmesan cheese and a piece of crusty bread.