White Bean Chicken Soup, and Piano Music

Written on June 13, 2012 

Once again, I found a message stuck in my outbox.  It is Saturday's.  Sorry to send out of order, but here it is:

Two joyful things to report today:

 

1.  I heard a lovely piano recital given by 2 girls at the tender age of 14 or 15.  They played beautifully, and I was pleased to be the teacher of one of them for 3 weeks this spring while her regular teacher recovered from surgery.  These 2 girls are truly gifted, and they work hard to develop their gift.

 

2.  This is much more practical and probably cognitively incongruent on such a hot day, but I found joy in making a big pot of a family favorite and my own original recipe.  Here is the recipe, in case you like soup on hot days, too.  It makes a big pot, but it's so good, you'll want to eat all of it, or freeze it for another day when you don't have time to cook.  Pretty much every day.

 

1 or 1.5 lbs, skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces. (I use kitchen scissors for this, and they work great.)

1 lg Vidalia onion, chopped ( a bag of frozen chopped onion works,too)

1 bunch of celery, washed and chopped, including leaves

6 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 Tbl. butter (I know, use olive oil, if you must.)

2 cans diced tomatoes, with juice

2 cans white beans (cannellini) drained and rinsed to remove excess salt

2 Tbl. chicken stock paste (or bullion or broth, whatever you have)

1/2  tsp crushed red pepper  (more, if you dare)

1/4 C fresh cilantro, chopped (I have great new multi-blade scissors to chop herbs.  I highly recommend them.   The fact that I can now harvest the herbs from my garden also gives me joy.)

Enough water to make the consistency that you want.  I add about 4 cups, maybe less.

 

In a big Dutch oven or stock pot, sauté the chopped veggies and chicken in butter until onions are translucent.  Add the tomatoes and juice, water, beans, and stock.  Stir in red pepper and herbs and simmer for a couple of hours.  If you're in a hurry, you can eat it when the veggies are soft, and the chicken is done.  It's healthy and delicious, and it gives us joy every time I make it, which is about once a month or so.