My current favourite chicken soup!
Think under the Tuscan Sun.
Except sweater weather food!
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Because that big bubbling pasta bake does require a semi-modest commitment of time to make.
Worth it, but sadly, time is not always on my side.
This Tuscan Soup was born from similar ingredients.
A faster, soup version of the pasta bake.
I hope you fall in love with this soup as much as I have!
All the star players are present sun dried tomato, spinach, chicken, pasta, cream, cheese!
But breast can be used too.
If using chicken breast, slice horizontally into thin steaks to sear.
The thick whole breasts are too thick.
Pasta I use small shells.
Any small pasta is fine here.
Anything small enough to be easy to scoop up with a spoon that cooks in around 10 minutes.
Broken spaghetti or other long pasta will also work break into 4cm / 1.5 pieces.
Sun dried tomato This is the garnish for this soup!
Instead of using croutons, nuts etc.
Garlic and onion Flavour base!
Celery Vegetable of choice here.
Plus, celery is a classic flavour base for many savoury things.Substitutewith other cook-able vegetables.
Think: diced zucchini, corn, carrots.
Butter The cooking fat of choice, because its got more flavour than oil.
Cornflour/cornstarch This is what is used to thicken the soup.
I opted to use this over flour for calorie control reasons.
Its like free stock!
Cant consume alcohol?Switch half the water for more chicken stock/broth.
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Cream Gives the soup a lovely creamy mouthfeel finish as well as making the soup white.
To get a nice finish, Id add a knob of butter!
Parmesan Another flavour boost.
The sandy-pop in, from the fridge (not aisle hey!
If it aint in the fridge, it aint real cheese! )
Because colour on the chicken = tastier chicken, and the soup broth gets extra (free!)
flavour from the golden bits left in the pot from searing the chicken.
Searthe chicken in the butter, just to get some colour on the surface.
As noted above, cooking our own chicken gets us on the path to a more delicious soup!
Chopthe chicken once its cool enough to handle.
I do this while the pasta is cooking.
Dont worry about raw bits, they will cook through quickly once added back into the hot soup broth.
Sautethe onion, garlic and celery in the same pot using the residual butter.
Thicken soup Mix together the cornflour/cornstarch with a smidge of water then stir it into the soup broth.
Soup finishes Then stir in the parmesan, follow by the cream and spinach.
And thats it ready to serve!
Sun dried tomatoes Chop sun dried tomatoes into scattering-size-pieces.
Ladlethe soup into bowls.
A sprinkle of extra parmesan wouldnt hurt either.
Pasta soup storage matters!
Pasta loves to absorb liquid.
So if you leave the pasta overnight in the broth, it will bloat and become overly soft.
So to store leftovers, its best to separate the broth from the pasta.
They will keep for 3 to 4 days.
This is a great soup to prepare ahead to reheat later!
They can be refrigerated for 4 days or frozen for 3 months.
Reheat the soup broth first, then add the pasta and chicken to reheat.
Ive popped these directions in the recipe card too.
Hes such a grot.
