Spanish Chicken Soup

Passover begins Friday night, and this year the seder falls on the nineteenth, and this year we are thirteen at the table with the leaf in and the borrowed folding chair from the Bermans on the end, and the house smells of brisket and matzo ball soup and the faint sweetness of the macaroons cooling on the rack. Noah is ten days old and Jennifer insisted on coming, with David's slightly anxious blessing, and she sat at the far end of the table with Noah in a carrier against her chest and ate two full servings of brisket and three matzo balls and I watched her eat and thought: she is one of us now, completely and finally, because the Passover table is the true initiation into this family, and she passed it at the first seder we ever invited her to, years ago, when she read from the haggadah without stumbling and asked a question about the four children that nobody had ever asked before and that Marvin spent ten minutes answering with obvious delight.

Rebecca brought Thomas. Thomas is a quiet, thoughtful man who teaches political science at Columbia, who asked intelligent questions about the seder, who helped clear the table without being asked, and who looked at Rebecca with an attentiveness that I found both hopeful and none of my business. I said nothing. I served him soup. I noted that he ate a second bowl. I filed the information for future reference and returned to the kitchen.

Marvin led the seder. This was the question I had turned over for weeks: whether Marvin could lead the seder, whether I should quietly arrange for someone else to open the haggadah, whether his condition would make the leading too difficult or too unpredictable. He led it. He led it from memory more than from the page, the Hebrew prayers and the familiar ritual passages arriving intact, the voice steady, the timing right. He lost his place twice and found it again. The second time he looked up at me with something in his eyes that I recognized as a request, and I said the next line quietly, just the two of us, and he continued. Fourteen people at my table. My husband leading the seder. My new grandson asleep in a carrier against his mother's chest. Some nights are exactly what they should be, and you hold them carefully, knowing they will not all be like this.

After a night like that one — thirteen people, a borrowed chair, Noah asleep in his carrier, Marvin finding his place and then finding it again — I always come back to soup. Not because soup solves anything, but because standing at the stove the next morning, tasting the broth and adjusting the salt, is how I settle back into ordinary time after a night that asked something of all of us. This Spanish chicken soup is what I made the next day, and it has the same quality I prize in any soup served at a table full of people: it is generous, it feeds more than you think it will, and it does not ask anyone to be anything other than hungry.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juices
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Instructions

Sauté the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and both bell peppers and cook another 3 minutes until fragrant.
Bloom the spices. Stir in the smoked paprika, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant and evenly coat the vegetables.
Build the broth. Pour in the diced tomatoes with their juices and the chicken broth. Stir to combine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Simmer the chicken. Nestle the chicken thighs into the broth whole. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken thighs with tongs and transfer to a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the meat into bite-sized pieces, then return it to the pot.
Add chickpeas and rice. Stir in the chickpeas and rice. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered over medium heat for 18–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and has absorbed some of the broth.
Finish and serve. Stir in the lemon juice and taste for seasoning, adjusting salt as needed. Ladle into bowls and top generously with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Spanish Chicken Soup — A Bowl for the Table That Holds Everyone