Chicken Vegetable Soup with Broccoli Rabe

Any soup is best made with homemade stock.  Caution:  Broccoli Rabe likes to be cooked, but doesn’t like to hang around.  If I want leftovers, I spoon some out just when I have added all of the ingredients. Just don’t reheat and reheat thinking that this is one of those:  "it gets better the next day" dishes.

 

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Olive OIl 

2 strips bacon, or 2 links Italian Sausage

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp hot red pepper flakes

2 large, sweet onions, diced

4 celery stalks, diced

2 large carrots, diced

1 medium bunch broccoli rabe, washed and chopped (discard the lower stems)

2 Tbs fresh oregano, leaves only, chopped

Salt to taste

2 quarts chicken stock

1 can small white beans, rinsed

2 cups shredded cooked chicken meat

• In a large Dutch oven, heat one TBS of the olive oil, and then either render the bacon, or brown the Italian sausage, then remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add the garlic, oregano, and the red pepper flakes and quickly stir.  Don’t let the garlic get past golden, or it will burn by the time you get the onions in.
• Add the onions and immediately stir to coat them with the fat and get the garlic and pepper off the bottom of the pan.  You can add the remaining olive oil at this stage is there is not enough fat to brown the vegetables.
• Once the onions start to turn golden, add the celery, and sauté it in with the onions for another 2-3 minutes.
• Add the carrots, and sauté another 2-3 minutes
• Add the salt, and stir.  Remember, you are just salting the vegetables, not the entire pot.  That seasoning should be at the very end when you can tell how much salt was in your chicken or your stock.
• Add the chopped broccoli rabe, stir and sauté until it complete wilts into the vegetables.
• Add the stock, and bring to a simmer until the carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.
• In the meatime, if you used Italian sausage, slice it (even if it was not cooked all the way through), and add it to the pan.
• Add the chicken and the beans, and allow them to heat all the way through.
• If you used bacon, sprinkle the crumbed bacon on top, then serve with grated parmesan cheese and chiabatta bread.