Chicken Soup with Vegetables and Orzo

The Date: 3 January 2012

The Occasion: I made a whole chicken in the crock pot last week and had lots of chicken leftover, plus real chicken stock. I thought this would make a totally winning soup.

The Recipe: Mostly from a recipe for Vegetable Chicken Noodle Soup from this book. But with several modifications including replacing the egg noodles with orzo, using real stock instead of reduced-sodium chicken broth, and eliminating the evaporated milk.

How it Went:
We loved this soup! Delicious. The stock was weird when I got it out of the fridge. Sort of gelatinous, not liquidy like broth you'd buy. But I mixed it into the soup, and it dissolved down to normal. I'd definitely do this again. Superb.

What You Need:
onion
carrots
celery
garlic
olive oil
flour
soup herbs (your choice)
chicken broth or stock
potatoes
cooked chicken
orzo

Your Turn:
Chop up vegetables so you have

• 1 C chopped onion
• 1 C chopped celery
• 1 C chopped carrot
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Saute these in a large soup pot in 2 tsp olive oil about 10 minutes, until tender.

While this is sauteing, scrub, peel, and chop 3 potatoes. This should be about 3-4 cups. Set these aside.

Now, add to the soup pot

• 1/4 C flour
• 2 tsp of herbs (Good choices are oregano, thyme, and basil. A poultry seasoning is good to add too.)

Stir to coat vegetables well.

Now add

• the chopped potatoes
• 1 tsp salt
• about 3 C chicken broth or stock
• about 3 C water

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in 2 C cooked, shredded chicken and 1 C orzo pasta, and let simmer another 10-15 minutes, or until orzo is plump and soft.

Taste it, then add more herbs and/or more salt, as needed.

Serve and enjoy!