Ajiaco or Colombian Chicken Soup

Remove the innards from the whole chicken. Place the chicken and the neck in a large, 8 quart stock pot. Cover the chicken with cool water, leaving about an inch or two of space at the top of the pot. Place the onion, celery, and peppercorns in the pot. Turn the heat onto medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to just barely simmer for about 2 hours.

At that point, remove the chicken from the pot, and place it on a large, rimmed baking sheet to cool.

Place a large heatproof bowl in the basin of your sink. Insert a strainer, lined with paper towels, over the bowl. Strain the chicken broth into the bowl. Remove the strainer, and discard the solids. Voila! Chicken stock! Please be careful. It is very hot.

Wipe out the stock pot. Measure the olive oil into the stock pot, and heat over medium high heat. Add the finely diced onions and the oregano (or guascas), and sauté until onions are translucent and tender, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently so as to not brown the onions.

Use this time to shred the two potatoes. Transfer the chicken stock back into the stock pot. Add the shredded potatoes, and, over medium high heat, allow to cook for about 15 minutes.

Use this time to chop the one potato, remove the kernels from two ears of corn, and crosswise cut the one ear of corn. Keep the chopped potato pieces in a bowl of cold water to prevent browning.

Strain the water off of the potatoes after the shredded ones have cooked for 15 minutes. Add the strained potato pieces, corn kernels, and corn slices to the pot. Cook for another 10 minutes, or until the potato pieces are fork tender. Lower the heat to low. Add the cilantro and warm through.

Shred the chicken. Add the shredded chicken to the pot. Warm through for a few minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with toppings of fresh cilantro and avocado chunks.

Enjoy!