Goji Berry Chicken Soup

I used to call this Taiwanese Chicken Soup, since it was inspired by my Mom's Chinese herb chicken soup.  But it's been so thoroughly Californified that it needs a new name.  I recently discovered that those mysterious red herbs from the Chinese grocery that my mom gave me are just the same as the health food staple known to Americans as Goji Berries.  So I had Tim pick up a package of organic dried goji berries - and wow what a difference.  They taste wonderful straight from the package.

Ingredients:

2.35 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or chicken legs)

1 handful of dried goji berries

1 yellow beet

2 bunches of green onions (white parts chopped, green sections cut into long strips)

1/2 paper bag of shitake mushrooms (whole, rinsed)

1 large ginger root (peeled and sliced diagonally)

4 garlic cloves (smashed)

1 bunch of collard greens (stems removed and chopped)

kosher salt

ground black pepper

sesame oil

1 meyer lemon

Serve with:

green section of green onions.

Cook:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat sesame oil in french oven.  

Saute white part of green onions plus ginger with the first batch of chicken thighs.  Don't crowd the pan.  Saute until browned (about 12-14 minutes, flip half way through).  Season with kosher salt and ground black pepper while sauteing.  Saute second batch.  Don't let any bits on the pan burn.

Remove chicken.  Add water and lemon juice to deglaze.  Put back chicken.  Add mushrooms, garlic, goji berries, yellow beet, ground pepper, collard greens.  Bring to a boil, turn off heat.  

Place cast iron pot, covered, into the oven and leave it alone for 45 minutes.

Dinner party serving notes:

- After the soup is done, remove ginger and yellow beet and shred the chicken.

- Serve with a small bowl of rice.