Chicken fennel orzo soup

I started tonight’s dinner without much of a plan (as I often do) and I paid for it. Soup is a dish I haven’t made a lot of in my cooking life and yet I approached it with the same confidence as a 20-year-old two drinks in at the university pub 😂. It wasn’t a disaster. We ate it. But we did it grudgingly.

Tonight’s takes:

Husband: “It’s good. Too much thyme.”

Helen (6 years old): “I want more chicken and less pasta. This is supposed to be chicken soup, right?” Followed by: “Is there anything else to eat?”

Hector (3 1/2 years old): “Good.” And then proceeded to eat the ice cube I put in the soup to cool it down and nothing else.

What I used:

• 1 medium yellow onion

• 5 carrots

• 1/2 celery head

• 1/2 fennel bulb

• 6 chicken thighs

• 1 tbsp miso

• 4-5 dashes Worcestershire

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1 tsp thyme

• olive oil

• salt

• water

What I did:

Peeled carrots and onion. Washed celery and fennel.

Chopped onion, carrot, celery, and fennel in mini food processor. Used enough of each veg to fill it up - so equal portions of each.

Added veg to large Dutch oven with lots of olive oil in it. Seasoned with a few good pinches of salt.

Cooked on medium heat for about 10 minutes - until just softened.

Poured myself a drink - found this awesome local small batch vermouth. Need to step up my wine game now that we’re living in Kelowna.

Added chicken thighs, miso, and Worcestershire.

Added enough water to cover everything - 8 cups. Brought to a boil. Cooked on a low boil for ~ 15 minutes - until chicken was cooked.

Removed chicken. Added orzo, oregano, and thyme. Brought to a boil. Cooked to al dente - 7 minutes.

Diced chicken. Added back to soup.

Done!

Next time:

Probably not make this again 😆. It tasted fine, but I didn’t want more than one bowl. I’m going to stick to avgolemono for chicken soup from now on.

😋

-Ellisa