Rachael Ray's Chicken Provencal " Stoup"

From the Food Network, Rachael says "a stoup is thicker than a soup and thinner than a stew". I must make all my soups as stoups, since it isn't any thicker than other soups I have made. That aside, this is a very tasty soup -- one that I will make often. I cut up all my veggies ahead of time and made the recipe as posted except I didn't use the black olive tapenade because my store doesn't carry it and I stirred the parsley into the stoup while it was simmering. I also let it simmer on the stove for 20-30 minutes because I wasn't ready to serve dinner yet and it was fine. It is excellent and definitely a keeper!

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2  medium carrots, peeled
• 2  garlic cloves, chopped (I minced)
• 2  tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1  medium zucchini
• 1  medium red bell pepper, seeded
• 1  medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
•  salt and pepper
• 1  tablespoon  herbes de provence (or 1 teaspoon each dried sage, rosemary and thyme)
• 1 1⁄2 lbs  red potatoes
• 1  cup dry white wine
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1  quart  chicken stock, plus
• 1  cup  chicken stock (I used 1 box of stock)
• 1  lb  boneless skinless  chicken tenders, diced
• 4  teaspoons  black olive  tapenade (1 tsp. per bowl of stoup)
• 2  tablespoons  chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions

1. Preheat medium soup pot over medium-high heat.
2. While soup pot heats, chop carrots into 1/4-inch dice.
3. Put carrots and garlic into pan and stir to coat with olive oil.
4. Chop and drop in the zucchini, pepper, and onion.
5. Season all the veggies with salt and pepper and herbes de Provence.
6. Cook the vegetables together 5 minutes.
7. While they cook, cut the potatoes into thin wedges.
8. Add wine to vegetables and reduce for a minute or so.
9. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, and stock to the pot, cover the pot and raise heat to high.
10. Bring the stoup to a boil, then add the chicken and lower heat and simmer 8 to 10 minutes until potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through.
11. Serve stoup in bowls and stir in a rounded spoonful of black olive tapenade at the table.
12. Top soup with chopped parsley and serve with a crusty bread.