Chicken-Vegetable Soup

Submitted by Dancer

"I make this on the weekend, and it turned out great."

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup ditalini or 1/2 cup small elbow macaroni
• 6 cups canned chicken broth
• 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks
• 4 carrots, trimmed,peeled chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 2 small onions, peeled and trimmed
• 4 ounces French haricots vert, thin short green beans,ends trimmed
• 2 small zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup shredded roast chicken (optional)
• 1⁄4 cup packed fresh basil leaf, cut into thin strips
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• olive oil
• grated parmesan cheese (optional)

directions

1. In large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until a dente.
2. Drain and refresh under cold water; reserve.
3. In medium saucepan, combine broth, tomatoes, carrots, onions, haricots verts, zucchini and garlic.
4. Cover and bring to boil.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
6. Add chicken, basil, pasta, salt and pepper.
7. Cook 2 minutes.
8. Stir in olive oil.
9. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Reviews

[Polar Bear]

I agree with Sbsbea´s suggestion that the olive oil should be used to saute the onions and garlic to get that nutty sweet flavor in the soup caused by olive oil. I would like to point out that if the directions were to be followed, the full flavor of roasted chicken wont shine through. There is a slight problem with technique here. Hence it is better to saute onions and garlic with olive oil, then add broth together with the roasted chicken so the soup would turn out rustic and would have more depth. Preferably, the broth should be made of fresh chicken broths, not canned broth. Canned broth together with fresh vegetables gives that overpowering modosodium glutamate taste, a bitter aftertaste. On the other hand, freshly boiled chicken carcass or chicken parts gives a wonderful, rich chicken soup. For chicken soups, it is best to use natural chicken broth made from little chicken parts. The roasted chicken itself if boiled with the carcass gives a wonderful rustic flavor to the soup. Adding it at the end is not the same as boiling it together with natural chicken broth. As to the vegetables, french haricots cook rapidly compared to carrots. Hence, it should be added in this order carrots, zucchini, haricots. Otherwise, your carrots would be well cooked, but the haricots would have turned greenish brown and loses the fresh flavor and nutrients. Once these modifications are made, this can be a good soup.

 

[Ms B.]

Last night, I had roasted a couple of chicken breasts with broth, roasted garlic and some herbs....tonight, I used it to make this soup! I used campanelle pasta instead of the elbow macaroni and didn't have any French haricots vert. I added about 2 cups of fresh baby spinach and omitted the garlic and basil (as those flavors were already roasted into my chicken). I also sauteed the onion in the olive oil prior to adding it to the stock...I like the sweetness this releases in the onion. I didn't add additional olive oil. This soup was very flavorful and filling. One note though....the recipe does not state when to add the cooked pasta...I added at the end just long enough to heat through.