Thursday, January 7, 2010

Day 7: Toasted Orzo Chicken Soup

Day 7:

This morning, I woke up to this.
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So I thought it was a great day for soup. I had seen this recipe in my new EveryDay with Rachael Ray magazine, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's what you'll need.
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32 ounces of chicken stock
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts/tenders
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup orzo pasta
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
Parsley
Lemon peel

I didn't have chicken stock, so I used water and chicken bouillon. I also didn't have a fresh bell pepper, so I used a mix of dried green and red bell peppers.

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In a medium pot, bring the chicken stock and chicken to a simmer. Lower the heat and poach the chicken for 12 minutes.

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Chop your carrot and zucchini. Your red pepper too, if you have one. Unlike me. I put the dried peppers in with my chicken.

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Shallots. They're like the love child of an onion and garlic. Chop up two of em.

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Ah. Thank you.

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Melt up the butter in a soup pot.

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When the butter is all melted, throw in the orzo. Cook it until is a nice, toasty brown. It'll take about 3-5 minutes.

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When it's browned, pull it off the heat, put in a bowl, and set it aside.

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Now, in the same pot, add your EVOO.

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Chuck in all your chopped veggies. Cook until soft, 7-8 minutes.

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When the veggies are about done, put in the garlic. I don't like to put garlic in too soon because I'm always afraid I'll burn it.

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Pull the chicken out of the poaching liquid. See the dried peppers on mine? Yum.
Pour the liquid into the pot of veggies. Add 2-4 cups of water too.

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Chop it up nice and fine.

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Add the orzo back in. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the peas. Cook for 5 more minutes.

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Use a zester, if you have one, to zest some strips of lemon peel. It will make the flavor of the soup come alive. It really adds something.

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Put the lemon zest in the pot, and add some parsley.

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Yum. There it is. And it really hit the spot.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That looks delicious!