Chunky Chicken and Vegetable Soup
To both speed cooking and improve flavour and the overall "look" of this soup, dice all veggies finely into 1/2 - 1 cm cubes.
Serves 6.
Ingredients:
|
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced |
2 carrots, peeled and diced |
|
1 leek, cleaned well, trimmed and chopped finely |
2 tomatoes, peeled and diced |
|
1 or 2 sticks celery, diced |
1 zucchini, diced (optional) |
|
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced finely |
2 chicken breast fillets or 4 thigh fillets |
|
2 handfuls short grain rice |
1 tspn each dried parsley, basil, oregano |
|
1 tbspn fresh parsley, finely chopped |
600 ml + chicken stock |
|
salt, pepper |
extra virgin olive oil |
Method:
Peel and dice all vegetables into even chunks/small pieces. Warm 2 tbspn or so of olive oil in saucepan, add all vegetables and stir to combine, Continue stirring over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften. Add rice, dried herbs, salt and pepper, and continue stirring. Do not allow vegetables to stick; if they start sticking to the bottom of the pan, turn the heat down.
Add the chicken stock and cook for half an hour to 45 minutes until vegetables are tender and beginning to break down and rice has begun to thicken the soup. Add more water or stock to pan if too much liquid has evaporated (ie, if the consistency has become more of a stew than soup!).
Raise heat a little, add in chicken fillets/thighs and poach for 5-10 mins or until cooked through. Remove chicken from soup, straining off surplus liquid and vegetables, and shred cooked chicken finely. Put shredded poached chicken back in pan, continue stirring until soup is back to a simmer. Add fresh parsley, and additional salt and pepper to taste.
Serve in deep bowls with hot crusty buttered bread.