Chicken & Orzo Soup + A Recipe

I don’t know about you, but I can eat soup everyday. although, according to my mom, most of my soups are more like stews because I tend to add lots of things in them, and my broth is usually thicker, and so on…no matter, I love soup.

Eagerly, I look for new flavor combinations and ingredients to try, usually sparked by a trip to the market or a recipe I come across in my cookbooks, or online. The thing with soup, as in most cooking, is to start with the basics, and you are free to add or delete what suits your taste. It’s hard to go wrong if you’re using ingredients that you love. The real fun comes in when you venture off and start adding ingredients/spices/flavors that are new to you. It’s adventurous, exciting, and hopefully fabulous.

Below is a simple chicken soup that I recently made and shared on my insta account (gretchalina). There are probably as many variations of chicken soup recipes as there are chili recipes, this is just one that I happen to make often.

The recipe, for those of you have asked, is not too specific, because, unless I’m baking, I don’t cook too specifically. So forgive the lack of exact measurements and such. It’s simple and anyone can make this, I promise. Just adjust the flavorings/ingredients to your individual tastes, ie; if you like lemon, add more lemon, if you like pepper, add more pepper, if you don’t care for celery (like me), then by all means, leave it out. See. Easy.

photo ©Gina Weathersby/via iphone

Chicken Soup with Orzo.

INGREDIENTS:

chicken stock or water (I did not have any home made chicken stock on hand, so sometimes I will use only water, and sometimes I will use boxed (organic, no salt) stock.) This time, I used water.
one package of organic, free range chicken legs (about 4-6 legs)
one medium/large onion (sliced or chopped chunky-your choice)
one half good sized fennel bulb and part of the stalk and fronds (sliced thinly)
carrots (halved, lengthwise and chopped)
a handful of snow peas cut in half
baby onions (or scallions or green onions) sliced lengthwise and cut up
kale (cleaned, rib removed and sliced)
orzo
one large lemon (grated and whole)
garlic (grated, to taste) i used one very large clove.
tied bundle of fresh thyme, crushed toasted coriander seeds, olive oil, lemon/thyme celtic salt (use whatever you have, this is just my current favorite), freshly smashed peppercorns (to your taste)

I use a large dutch oven/le cruset type pot when making soup.
Add a couple slugs of olive oil to your already heated pot, add all the veggies (except the kale and snow peas), coriander, thyme, salt and pepper (I put a fair amount of salt in, a really healthy pinch) and saute till the onions have a little color on them, at med/high temp.
Wash the chicken legs and add them to the pot along with the grated garlic and another pinch of salt. Cook with the veggies for a few minutes more, adding another ‘pinch’ of salt.
Add enough water or stock to cover everything by about two inches or so. If you prefer your soup a bit thicker, stop here. If you like your soup more broth like, add more.
Bring everything to just under a boil, uncovered. You don’t ever want it to boil. Skim any foamy deposits floating to the top.
Reduce the heat to low/med, cover and simmer for about an hour. Check every now and then to make sure you still have enough liquid and more skimming, if needed.

After about an hour, hour 1/2, remove the legs and scrape the meat off of them (omitting the skin, of course) keeping them torn and chunky. Return all meat/juices to the pot.
Remove the thyme bundle. add the kale and snow peas. squeeze the juice of the whole lemon (or more if wanted) in. Taste and adjust flavorings (I typically add a bit more salt at this stage too. Remember you’re salting each layer) cover and turn temp to low.
The longer the soup simmers, the more intense the flavors are. Just be sure to check your liquids and keep the cover on.

When you’re ready to serve, make your orzo. Keep it covered and warm and add a little olive oil to keep it loose.

to serve:
scoop the orzo to your soup bowl, add chicken, broth, and veggies on top. Sprinkle with s/p/grated lemon/fresh thyme.
add some crusty bread and wine and you are so set.

Serves 4

**Something else I normally add, but did not this time, is an avgo/lemono sauce (egg/lemon). It’s a Greek/Mediterranean thing. If you add this step, you need not add the lemon in during the cooking.
Add this step right before serving. So, if you like, in a very clean stainless bowl (although my Yia Yia used whatever she had) you can beat the white of one egg until VERY frothy. Add the yolk, keep beating. add the juice from one lemon. Keep beating. you should have a big frothy bowl of pale yellow, lemony delight.
LITTLE by LITTLE add the hot broth of the soup to the bowl until your have tempered the eggs -if you do not do this, your eggs will curdle. Then slowly add the entire bowl to the finished soup. This ‘sauce’ adds a light, but rich, silky lemony flavor to the soup.
Serve immediately.

Enjoy!