Have you ever eaten at the Cuban place on Bertrand in Lafayette? Yeah. Café Havana. It’s heavenly, I tell ya. It wasn’t unusual for me to eat there two or three times a week. Their Cubano sandwiches are the best this side of the Mississippi, and their Cuban-style red beans are delish! Every seated customer is offered the Cuban chicken soup. Take my advice: accept it. It’s unlike any “chicken noodle soup” you’ve ever had before, unless you’ve been to Havana recently. I’ve learned to cook this new comfort food of mine, and I’m willing to part with the recipe, because the good cooks will share knowledge. All others are just assholes.
3-4 thinly cut chicken breast filets (or you can use chicken thigh filets)
6 cups of water
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. oregano
1 can diced carrots
1 can diced new potatoes
about 1/3 pound of angel hair pasta, broken in half
1/2 cup lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Salt chicken lightly at least a few hours before you cook the soup. Add water, chicken, tomato paste, onion, garlic and oregano to a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
Add potatoes and carrots. Cover and simmer another 15 minutes, just to heat the vegetables through. Add noodles, lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook until the pasta is tender. Careful how much pasta you add. If you’re like me, you’re wont to dump the whole damn box of pasta in the soup and then it ends up so thick that you could walk on top of the shit. You can always add more noodles later if you must.