Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Like countless others, my husband and I are facing at least two weeks of social distancing. Last week, as we were preparing for that possibility, the reality of how people have emptied stores of paper goods and food hit us hard. We were lucky. While we don’t have a tremendous amount of variety, we were able to secure enough food (and paper products) to make it through the next two weeks.
I would love to be sharing a great traditional Irish recipe with you today, but as beef and lamb were both out of stock, that will have to wait until next year. Instead, I present…Chicken and Vegetable Soup. Not sexy, but it is filling, nourishing, and easy to make!
As my husband is not a soup eater, this is a smaller recipe that made enough for 4-5 days worth of lunches. I also used those items in my fridge that needed to be eaten soon or would spoil. I try not to be wasteful with the food I buy, but as we face difficulty getting groceries the importance of using everything we’ve bought is something I’m even more keenly aware of.
Ingredients:
1 Chicken breast
2 Baby carrot snack packs, diced (about 3 oz of carrots in each pack)
1 Celery snack pack, diced (about 1.5 oz of celery in the pack)
1/2 a small Sweet Onion, diced
1-15.5 oz can Cannellini beans, drained.
1/3 cup dry Ditalini pasta
1/2 a small Zucchini, chopped
1/2 a small Yellow Squash, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp butter - divided
1 tsp. Ginger Paste (more or less depending on your tastes)
Salt and Pepper
Directions:
In a 3 quart pot (you can use a bigger stock pot) heat/melt 1 tsp. of butter and olive oil over medium heat.
Cut chicken in to bite size pieces, and season with salt and pepper. Tip: Instead of salt and pepper, use a spice blend that you like. For this pot of soup I used a rotisserie chicken spice blend and it added great flavor to the soup.
Add chicken to pot and brown. Once chicken in cooked through, scoop chicken out and place on a dish off to the size.
Next, melt remaining 1/2 tsp. of butter and add carrots, onion, and celery to pot. Add a good pinch salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent and vegetables are softening.
Stir in ginger past and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add drained cannellini beans and 5 cups water. Bring up to a soft boil and immediate reduce heat to a slow simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes until beans are tender. Tip: To add further depth to the soup use chicken broth or chicken bone broth. I forgot to add my chicken bone broth concentrate to my water, but was amazed by how flavorful the broth still was.
Add zucchini, squash, dry ditalini pasta, and another good pinch of salt. Bring up to a soft boil one more time and immediate reduce heat back down to a slow simmer. Cook for 10 - 15 more minutes until pasta is cooked.
Serve and enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this recipe!