I’m a soup junkie and I realize I have only this one in the recipe list! Worry not, many more will be coming. While in this recipe, I am cook the chicken myself, I also find that buying a lot of rotisserie chicken or two on the weekend means easy lunches and dinners throughout the week. Just skin and dice/shred them and keep them boxed in the fridge. This soup is particularly nice during the fall or winter, when it’s cold outside and you want to feel all warm and toasty.
Total time: 1 1/2 hours
Ingredients
Soup Base
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium leeks, cleaned and sliced finely
1/2 large red pepper, chopped
1-2 celery sticks, sliced finely
3 cups pureed fresh tomatoes
kosher salt
pepper
1/3 cup white rice (optional)
Instructions
On medium-low heat, saute the leeks in butter and olive oil until translucent, add in the garlic, red pepper and celery and saute until softened. Pour in the tomatoes, add in the seasonings and bring to a boil. Simmer covered for 5 minutes.
Chicken Broth
1 large chicken breast approx. 1lb
1 tbsp coriander seeds
3 bay leaves
5 peppercorns
kosher salt
pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped
2-3 cups water
1/2 stick celery, chopped
1/4 leek, chopped
1 chicken stock cube (maggi)
Instructions
While making the soup base, put all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Dice chicken into cubes. Strain the broth and add the clear broth into the soup base. Stir in the cubed chicken, rice and simmer covered until rice is cooked (about 15-20 minutes).
Serve hot with foccacia or garlic bread!
PS: Kosher salt is a type of salt. It’s coarse and has a milder flavour than table salt, and is preferred by most chefs and cooks. It’s a bit sweeter and not very expensive either. 🙂