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| not Laura's actual recipe, but close |
My good friend Laura Pappas over at Against the Grain submitted this recipe that can be used for lunch or dinner. This is a great one that requires minimal attention, yet maximum return. You can eat it right away or partition it and freeze for later on. When people change over their food, one of the biggest complaints is how to eat during the work week. Well, now you 9-to-5'ers have no excuses, comprende?? Take a frozen bowl of chicken cacciatore and let it thaw in the fridge during the day. Heat up in the microwave and whammo blammo, you got dinner!
Laura's Chicken Cacciatore Soup
INGREDIENTS
- 1 whole chicken about 4lbs (preferably pastured)
- 2 cans of whole tomoatoes with juice ~35oz (check for no added sugars)
- 1 can of diced tomatoes (check for no sugar)
- 1 Red Bell Peppers
- 2 Green Bell Peppers
- 1 Large Onion
- 4-5 Carrots
- 1 bunch of celery
- 1 large hanful of fresh basil
- 1/2 handful of fresh flatleaf parsley
- 4 cloves fresh garlic diced (about 2 Tbsp)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- *1-2 cups chicken broth (optional if you want more broth and don't want to use water)
DIRECTIONS
Prep:
- Get a really large soup pot, it needs to fit the whole chicken in it. If you don't have a pot that big, use a whole chicken that is already cut up.
- Dice the onions, peppers, carrots and herbs
- Cut up the whole tomoatoes (from the cans) into bit sized chuncks, save the juice
Cooking:
Combine all ingredients (except for the the fresh herbs, salt and pepper) into a large soup pot and mix together. If you want some extra broth, add 1-2cups or water or chicken broth*. Bring the pot to a boil and after boiling reduce heat to low / simmer and cook for 2 hours. At 2 hours, remove the chicken and allow to cool enough to remove the skin and the meat. Add the meat back into the soup and add the fresh herbs and salt and pepper as needed. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes and then serve. It's delicous with fresh diced avacado on the side.
*Adding additional liquid will add more broth to the soup, you can use water since you are cooking the chicken with bones if you choose to use chicken without bones for this, use chicken broth instead of water
**Note the more chicken you add here the less you will notice that there are no "noodles" in the soup. This makes a really hearty dish that is delicous and great to portion into containers to bring for lunch or a quick dinner.
- Get a really large soup pot, it needs to fit the whole chicken in it. If you don't have a pot that big, use a whole chicken that is already cut up.
- Dice the onions, peppers, carrots and herbs
- Cut up the whole tomoatoes (from the cans) into bit sized chuncks, save the juice
Cooking:
Combine all ingredients (except for the the fresh herbs, salt and pepper) into a large soup pot and mix together. If you want some extra broth, add 1-2cups or water or chicken broth*. Bring the pot to a boil and after boiling reduce heat to low / simmer and cook for 2 hours. At 2 hours, remove the chicken and allow to cool enough to remove the skin and the meat. Add the meat back into the soup and add the fresh herbs and salt and pepper as needed. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes and then serve. It's delicous with fresh diced avacado on the side.
*Adding additional liquid will add more broth to the soup, you can use water since you are cooking the chicken with bones if you choose to use chicken without bones for this, use chicken broth instead of water
**Note the more chicken you add here the less you will notice that there are no "noodles" in the soup. This makes a really hearty dish that is delicous and great to portion into containers to bring for lunch or a quick dinner.
Hey Plentus! this looks good....I am going to make it this weekend! one question - how many oz of the diced tomatoes? it says one can....15 oz? thanks! - Kristin T
ReplyDeleteLaura might know specifically, but usually diced tomatoes come in 15oz cans (or technically 14.5 I think). I would use that.
ReplyDelete