Chicken Orzo Soup

aka: Chicken Noodle Soup

The chicken stock I made the other day got turned into two different soups. The first, veggie pho, for friends who just had their first baby. I used this pho spice packet, in addition to adding fish sauce. I boiled off some rice noodles for them, julienned a couple vegetables (carrots and broccoli stems - it's all I had on hand for a last minute meal), and gave them a package of Trader Joe's teriyaki flavored tofu. I put this all in a "kit" for them to cook up at home.

The remainder of the chicken stock got made into traditional chicken noodle soup. I actually had 3 chicken breast, still on the bone, that I used broke down for chicken Marsala Sunday night. I added the bones to the stock with some vegetable trimmings and simmered for an hour or so yesterday. I also set aside about 3-ounces of chicken that I cooked for the 'Marsala', to add to my soup. 

**Here's a quick little Amazon Fresh tip: when buying Mary's Organic chicken breasts, go for the 12-ounce 'split bone-in breast' over the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You only get one, and you have to take the time to de-bone it, but it's more cost effective. You do waste the skin. Although, if you are so inclined, you can make crackling out of it. I buy two of those, versus the package with two breast, for less money and I get to use the bones for broth. In this case, I enhanced a stock I already had, rather than make more, but the result was a super tasty soup.

Carrots, celery, shallots (I ran out of onion), and garlic, sweated. White wine, deglaze and reduce. Add chicken stock, a sprig of fresh thyme, bring to a boil. Add diced, cooked chicken and pasta of choice. I used orzo, which I cooked first, but I don't think it was necessary. I par-cooked it because I thought my broth would get too cloudy from the pasta starch. I don't know. Maybe it was unnecessary.

We didn't eat the soup until tonight because I thought maybe letting it sit overnight would intensify the flavor. It was still pretty darn good yesterday, though. And, tonight...totally hit the spot for this chilly, low 40s, winter day.