Chicken-Rice Soup

Tonight's meal consisted of a very delicious and might I say beautiful spring soup with a side of corn on the cobb. Most of the ingredients came from the farmers market basket last week - getting another tomorrow - yay! Q seasoned the corn with a bit of butter, salt & garlic pepper wrapped up in foil. He then cooked it in the toaster oven on 350º for 30 minutes - and it came out perfect (he was so happy I liked it, love you babe!) We also had some crescent rolls in the fridge - gah those are so good, we could probably devour an entire can of those in one sitting, yep.

The stock in this soup is fortified with pureed rice, tomatoes and other seasonings which I've never done before and it naturally thickened up the soup. This was probably one of, if not the best chicken soup I've made in a long time... the recipe said it was for 4 servings - ummm well I think it's more for 6 people or more... so needless to say I have lunches covered for the next few days. Here's how I made it:

Chicken-Rice Soup

Serves 6

Chicken-Rice Soup, Corn on the cobb & crescent rolls

ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth

• 3 stalks celery, cut into 1/2" pieces

• 5 carrots, cut into 1/2" pieces

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 lb)

• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice

• 1 Tbsp tomato paste

• 3 plum tomatoes, finely chopped

• 1 cup frozen peas

• 1/3 cup heavy cream

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• Kosher Salt & Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

directions

1. Combine the broth, celery & all but 1/2 cup carrots in a large pot. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the chicken, 3/4 tsp each S&P. Cover and gently simmer for 18 minutes, turning chicken once during the cooking process. Remove the chicken from the pot and let rest on a cutting board. Keep stock warm.

2. Combine 4 cups water, rice, tomato paste, 1 chopped tomato and remaining carrots in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low; simmer, covered until rice and carrots are tender, about 15-20 minutes.

3. Puree the rice mixture until smooth; whisk into the pot with broth mixture. Add the frozen peas, heavy cream and the remaining tomatoes. Bring to a simmer.

4. Meanwhile, shred the chicken and return to the soup. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice; thin with water if needed and season with S&P.

Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from Food Network Magazine.