Saturday, September 24, 2016

Chicken Orzo Soup with Fennel & Kale















Soup's on!

One more reason to be happy that cooler fall weather has finally arrived.  It makes me so happy to finally be able to simmer a pot of soup on the stove and not turn my kitchen into a steam bath, so I took a break from all the pumpkin recipes I've been trying out lately and made this soup!

I switched out a few ingredients from my usual chicken soup recipe, but if you're not feeling adventurous, go the traditional route and switch out the orzo for traditional noodles and use celery instead of fennel.

Today's Playlist:

  • "50 Ways To Say Goodbye"...Train
  • "Hey There Delilah"...Plain White T's
  • "Revolution"...The Beatles
  • "In the Next Room"...Neon Trees
  • "Paint It Black"...The Rolling Stones
  • "Warning"...Green Day
  • "Have Love Will Travel"...The Sonics
  • "Got To Move"...Cake
  • "Hate To Say I Told You So"...The Hives

Chicken Orzo Soup with Fennel & Kale
  • 2 stalks fennel, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 large or 3 small carrots, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 2/3 cup uncooked orzo
  • 3 cups chopped kale
  • salt & pepper, to taste


Gather your ingredients.

Chop the carrots, onion and fennel.  I pulled off a few of the fennel fronds and set them aside to use a garnish when serving.

In a large (6 to 8 quart) pot, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat.  Add the fennel, carrots and onions.  Crush in the garlic.  Add salt and pepper.  Saute the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften and get a little bit of color on the bottom of the pan.

Add the cooked chicken, bay leaf, rosemary and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the orzo and simmer for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the orzo is cooked.  Finally, remove the bay leaf, add the chopped kale and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Enjoy.



1 comment:

  1. This looks so good Fran, especially with the addition of fresh kale. I've not used fennel so that will be new to me. I love the orzo idea because the larger noodles tend to get soggy or soak up too much broth. So happy soup season is here!

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear what you think!