Fresh Vegetable Chicken Clean-the-fridge Soup |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 40 Minutes |
Ready In: 40 Minutes Servings: 6 |
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This is my very first what's-in-the-fridge, seat-of-my-pants dinner soup. It's very healthy, as the flavor comes from dried herbs and fresh vegetables rather than salt or flavor packs. This is a very forgiving recipe; the amount of veggies and/or chicken is easily variable, especially the amount of carrots or celery, but absolutely DO NOT use canned mushrooms instead of fresh. Read more . The result is a savory, low-sodium, no-sugar vegetable chicken broth with lots of protein. Carrots will be crisp and sweet, celery just barely crisp, mushrooms firm but not crispy, and everything else well sauteed. I used canned chicken, but if you have extra pre-cooked chicken meat laying around, feel free to use that instead. I'm also curious to find how this would come out using vegetable stock and a non-meat protein substitute for the chicken...anyone want to try it? Ingredients:
2 12 oz can chunk white chicken in water, rinsed and drained |
(or appx 1 lb precooked chicken breast, shredded) |
8 oz pkg sliced fresh mushrooms, chopped into quarters |
3 c baby carrots, chopped into thirds |
3 stalks celery, chopped |
1 lg green bell pepper, seeded and chopped |
1/4 c chopped onion |
4 cloves garlic, chopped |
5 tbsps extra-virgin olive oil, divided |
32 oz box reduced-sodium chicken broth or stock |
1/4 tsp dried tarragon |
4 shakes dill weed |
3 shakes ground white pepper |
3 shakes ground coriander |
Directions:
1. Rinse and press as much water as possible from chicken. Heat chicken in nonstick Dutch oven over medium heat. Saute dry, stirring, for about 3 minutes to dry out the chicken a bit. Turn heat to high-medium and stir about 2 tbsp olive oil into chicken. Continue to saute, stirring, for 3-5 minutes; add another 1 tbsp olive oil and saute, stirring, for about another 3 minutes. Chicken is done when it begins to look just a bit dry and stringy. Remove chicken to a bowl and set aside.
2. Add remaining olive oil and all vegetables to Dutch oven. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until onions and garlic are translucent, about 5 - 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and dump chicken into vegetable mix, still stirring constantly. Saute together for about 3 minutes.
3. Pour chicken broth into the chicken veggie mix. Add the spices and stir thoroughly. Reduce heat to medium-low and keep on heat (it shouldn't actually bubble at all) for 15 minutes. Taste the broth; it may need more spices (I didn't exactly measure the first time). If more spice is needed, they should be added in this order: white pepper, dill, coriander. Tarragon should be the dominant flavor, with the others more subtle. Soup will be ready to serve after the 15-minute simmering, but letting it heat for another 15 minutes or so won't hurt.
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