Greek-Inspired Chicken and Rice Soup

Brrrr – This winter is especially chilly, often with a daily temperature range from the high-30’s to high 40’s on several days running.  Snow atop the Bay Area’s highest peaks also attest to this fact.

This soup can come together using ingredients you may already have on hand. Perfect for a weeknight, or busy weekend, this recipe takes less than an hour from start to table (excluding time if you prepare homemade chicken broth).

I save and freeze the carcass whenever I roast a whole chicken, lately about every other week.  So, it doesn’t take long before I have enough to make a couple of quarts of hearty broth.  If I have immediate plans for the broth, I will season it accordingly:  Asian applications will include a hefty dose of fresh ginger, turmeric, or lemongrass; otherwise, I stick with the conventional basics of onion, celery, carrots, garlic and several herbs.

Once you have two quarts of broth, homemade or store-bought, the rest of the soup pulls together by chopping a few more aromatics, and then simmering all the ingredients for about 30 minutes.

We enjoyed our first servings with crusty garlic bread, but this soup will adapt to pretty much any serving situation.

A few advance suggestions:

• It’s soup so the recipe is flexible to suit your tastebuds!
• If using prepared chicken broth, you may want to dial up the flavor by adding a bay leaf or pinch of oregano.
• Using fresh lemon juice is a must.  Please nix on using a prepared concentrate.

Greek Inspired Chicken and Rice Soup

Makes about 2 quarts

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Ingredients

  

• 8 cups chicken broth preferably homemade, but a low-sodium option works too
• 1 pound chicken thighs skinless and boneless
• 1/2 cup white onion diced, about 1 small
• 1/2 cup celery diced, about 1 large stalk
• 3 - 4 whole garlic cloves finely chopped, amount to taste
• 3/4 cup white rice preferably long-grain
• 1/2 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed, amount to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
• Fresh parsley and/or mint leaves coarsely chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

 

• Rinse the rice in a large sieve until the water drains nearly clear.  Set aside to drain.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a largeDutch oven or soup pot, at least 4-quart capacity.  Add chicken thighs and cook until just opaque on each side, with barely any browning. 
• Move the chicken to the side of the pan and add onion, celery and garlic.  Stir until the onion begins to turn translucent, then add the rinsed and drained rice.  Stir all to combine and continue cooking over medium heat until the rice begins to turn opaque, about 3 – 4 minutes.
• Add the chicken broth, cover with a tight-fitting lid and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce the heat to achieve a slow simmer.  Let simmer for about 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the rice has become soft and begins to open (bloom).
• Remove the chicken pieces and coarsely chop or shred.  Return the chicken to the soup and add the freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• Once the soup returns to a slow simmer it is ready!  Serve with a generous flourish of chopped fresh parsley and/or mint leaves.  A thin slice of lemon atop will signal the lemony burst of flavor.