Chard and White Bean Stew

2 feet of snow on the ground and nearly subzero temperatures definitely call for a hearty stew. The high for tomorrow is forecast to be 8 degrees. 8! That should be illegal. There's nothing I love more in a stew than cannellini beans. Some members of this household - who shall remain unnamed - can be a little wary of "just soup" for dinner. Especially when it's vegetarian soup. But all I had to do was pull up the photo from smitten kitchen of this stew with a poached egg on top. Sold!



1 pound Swiss chard (can also swap kale, spinach or another green), ribs and stems removed and cleaned
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped shallots, about 4 medium
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup dry white wine
2 15-ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup pureed tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

Toasted bread slices, poached eggs, chopped herbs such as tarragon, parsley or chives or grated Parmesan or Romano to serve (optional)

Bring medium pot of salted water to boil. Cook chard (or any heavier green; no need to precook baby spinach) for one minute, then drain and squeeze out as much extra water as possible. Coarsely chop chard.

Wipe out medium pot to dry it, and heat olive oil over medium. Add carrots, celery, shallots and garlic and saute for 15 minutes. Barber warns not to brown them but I didn’t mind a light golden color on them. Add wine (scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pot) and cook it until it reduced by three-fourths. Add beans, broth, tomatoes, a few pinches of salt, freshly ground black pepper, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chard and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove thyme and bay leaf. Add more broth if you’d like a thinner stew and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Serve as is drizzled with sherry vinegar. Or you can ladle the stew over thick piece of toasted country bread or baguette that has been rubbed lightly with half a clove of garlic, top that with a poached egg and a few drops of sherry vinegar and/or some grated cheese.

Bread Soup (Pappa al Pomodoro)

On Christmas tree-decorating-night (which was much later than usual this year), I made bread soup. I didn't make it on Christmas tree-decorating-night last year, but the year before that I did. That was our last Christmas in New York, and that year we bought our Christmas tree with change. Well kind of...I happened to take my change jar to the bank that day, and used that cash to buy the Christmas tree. But one day I'll tell my grandkids "you know (shaking my finger at them)...when I was young, I bought our Christmas tree with change and ate bread soup for dinner." I think the bread soup/Christmas tree night will become a tradition.



1/2 cupextra virgin olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic
1 large white onion
1 14.5 oz. can diced Italian tomatoes
1 28 oz. can crushed Italian tomatoes
salt, pepper
1 quart chicken broth
4-6 cups torn stale bread (if bread isn't stale enough, toast in oven until crispy)
2 15 oz. cans cannellini or Great Northern white beans
10 basil leaves
parmesan cheese

Finely chop garlic and onion. Saute in 3 tablespoons olive oil in large soup pot for about 8 minutes. Add diced and crushed tomatoes and some salt and pepper. Add broth and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts bubbling turn down to a simmer and add beans and bread. Keep stirring as it simmers until it becomes a thick stew, about 10-15 minutes. Add more salt, pepper to taste. Serve in bowls and tear basil over top, drizzle more olive oil and add cheese.

Kale and Chourico Soup

I've professed my love of chouriço before, and I bought some again last time I was home in Columbus. This time I wanted to do a little more with it than make sandwiches, and upon researching Portuguese recipes I found kale soup. This recipe is from Emeril (he's from Fall River, so I trust that it's pretty authentic), with a few of my changes.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound chouriço sausage, sliced in 1/2-inch slices
1 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
6 cups chicken stock
3 cups kale, rinsed, stemmed, and cut into 1-inch strips
1 bay leaf
Pinch of crushed red pepper
salt and pepper

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the chouriço and onions. Saute the mixture for about 5 minutes.



Add the garlic and potatoes and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock and kale and bring the liquid up to a boil.



Stir in the bay leaf and crushed red pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and ladle the soup into shallow bowls. Serve with crusty bread.



The soup really doesn't need a lot of flavoring besides the chouriço. I saw another recipe that included kidney beans and cabbage in addition to the kale, but I liked keeping it simple. Crusty bread on the side is a must.

Matzo Ball Soup

I decided to make matzo ball soup for two reasons. Well, three if you count "it's delicious" as a reason. First reason is I've been eating it for lunch from Goddess at least once a week for the past month, and the second is because I wanted something nice and light for dinner after a wonderful weekend of friends visiting (*cough* cupcake binge *cough*).



I had never bought or cooked with matzo meal before. Matzo meal is ground up matza. And matza is made of flour and water. So there you have it.



This recipe is brought to you by Smitten Kitchen, with a couple very minor changes by me.

Matzo Balls
1/2 cup matzo meal
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons seltzer

2 quarts prepared chicken stock
1 carrot, thinly sliced

Mix all matzo ball ingredients in a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.



Bring 1 1/2 quarts of well-salted water to a brisk boil in a medium sized pot.

Reduce the flame. Run your hands under water so they are thoroughly wet. Form matzo balls by dropping spoonfuls of matzo ball batter approximately 1-inch in diameter into the palm of your wet hands and rolling them loosely into balls.



Drop them into the simmering salt water one at a time. Cover the pot and cook them for 30 to 40 minutes.



About ten minutes before the matzo balls are ready, bring prepared chicken stock to a simmer with the sliced carrot in it. Ladle some soup and a couple matzo balls into each bowl and serve.



My minor changes were: canola oil instead of vegetable oil or reserved chicken fat. The original recipe called for the option of chicken stock or seltzer in the matzo mixture, but I really liked the seltzer. The original also calls for fresh dill as a garnish. The whole thing took a little over an hour to make, but most of that time was spent waiting - for the matzo mixture to chill, and then for it to cook. So it's really not labor intensive. Also, I used half homemade chicken stock and half store-bought. Good stock is important since it's a very simple soup.

Celery Root Soup

This is a recipe I've had bookmarked for a year. A whole year. And I finally got around to making it this week. It's a nice, cozy, thick autumn soup made that's perfect for the chilly weather that swooped in this week (it's 31 degrees right now! yikes!). And this soup marks not one, but two firsts for me - cooking with celery root, and knowingly making a vegan recipe. Yes of course I've made plenty of all-veggie dishes, but this one calls for cashew cream instead of regular cream. One little warning - the cashew cream needs to be started a day in advance. I'll explain later.

First, a small lesson. Celery root (also known as celeriac) is a root vegetable, and a type of celery. It's not, as I thought, some underground part of regular celery. It was strange to cut into a brown root vegetable and smell celery. But don't be intimidated by these brown lumpy vegetables! Buy one at your farmers market and make this soup!



Here's what it looks like when you peel and chop it. I used a knife instead of a vegetable peeler, but the skin wasn't too thick so I think either would be fine.




Sea salt
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium celery roots, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 quarts faux chicken or vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 cup thick Cashew Cream
Freshly ground black pepper
1 unpeeled Granny Smith apple, very finely diced
Chive oil

Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Sprinkle the bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds, being careful not to let it smoke. This will create a nonstick effect.

Add the celery root, celery, and onion and sauté for 6 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft but not brown.



Add the stock and bay leaf, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.



Add the Cashew Cream and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.



Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender, cover the lid with a towel (the hot liquid tends to erupt), and blend on high. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls. Place a spoonful of the diced apple in the center of each serving, drizzle the Chive Oil around the apple, and serve.



Here are the directions for cashew cream and chive oil:

Cashew Cream

1 cup whole raw cashews (not pieces, which are often dry), rinsed very well under cold water

Put the cashews in a bowl and add cold water to cover them. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water. Place in a blender with enough fresh cold water to just cover them. Blend on high for several minutes until very smooth. (If you're not using a professional high-speed blender, which creates an ultra-smooth cream, strain the cashew cream through a fine-mesh sieve.)


Chive oil

1 small bunch chives
1/2 cup canola oil
Pinch sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Blanch the chives for 30 seconds in boiling water, then drain and chill in an ice bath. Drain, wrap the chives in a towel, and squeeze the moisture out. Place in a blender with the remaining ingredients and blend for 2 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Put the chive oil in a plastic squeeze bottle with a small opening or use a spoon for drizzling it on the soup.


Here's the original recipe by Tal Ronnen if you want to see it. I didn't change anything except the measurements for cashew cream, and some of the directions, because for this soup that's all you'll need. Actually, it will probably give you a little extra. And I skipped the chive oil and just added some fresh chives instead. This soup was easy to make, had a really nice taste and consistency, and I loved the addition of the Granny Smith apples. A great autumn soup.

Mushroom Stock

Why do you need to know how to make mushroom stock? Well, you don't. Chicken stock is just fine, unless you're a vegetarian, and I usually end up using store-bought chicken stock because homemade needs to sit overnight. However...any kind of homemade stock is better than store-bought, and mushroom stock is really quick - only about an hour. Plus, I had the biggest mushroom I've ever seen and I needed to do something with it.



That thing was about 7 or 8 inches wide. I got it at the farmers market from Nichols when I got the Hen of the Woods. The guy told me what it was called, but all I caught was "druid" and my internet searches for "druid mushroom" just turned up a lot of weird video game stuff. I asked when I went back to the market the next week and they said it was a saddle mushroom. Ohhhh. So - I can now officially tell you it's a Dryad's Saddle mushroom. Not a druid mushroom.

Here's the recipe for mushroom stock, exactly as it appears on epicurious.com. Dryad's Saddle mushrooms are a bit hard to come by, but if you have one chop it into pieces and replace both the shiitake and white mushrooms with it.

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 leek top, chopped and washed
4 garlic cloves, in their skin, crushed with the side of a knife blade
1 ounce dried shiitake mushrooms
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1/2 pound white mushrooms, sliced
2 small carrots, chopped
6 parsley sprigs, coarsely chopped
3 fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh marjoram or oregano sprigs
2 fresh sage leaves
2 bay leaves
9 cups cold water

Pour just enough water into the stockpot to start the onions cooking. Add the onion, leek top, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, and salt.



Give the vegetables a stir, then cover the pot and cook gently over medium heat for 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and cover with 9 cups cold water.



Bring the stock to a boil, then simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour. Pour the stock through a strainer, pressing as much liquid as you can from the vegetables, then discard them.



I ended up using it to make a mushroom risotto, but of course it would be good for soup or pretty much any recipe that calls for chicken stock.

Wonton Soup & Scallion Pancakes

I hardly ever make any kind of Asian food. The recipes often call for a lot of ingredients I don't have on hand, I don't have a wok, and I'm not too familiar with some of the techniques. But for some reason wonton soup sounded so good the other night and I found a recipe I thought I could handle. And then I started thinking about scallion pancakes. I don't think I'd had them in well over a year...so why not give it a try? Soup first, here we go.

This recipe is from Emeril, with a couple of minor adaptations:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil or canola oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions, plus 3 tablespoons finely chopped
10 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/2 pound ground pork
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
About 30-40 wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced baby bok choy
1 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps

In a large saucepan or soup pot heat the oil over medium high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.



Add the 1/4 cup of sliced scallions and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low so that the broth just simmers. Allow broth to simmer for at least 20 to 30 minutes while the wontons are being assembled.

In a small mixing bowl combine the remaining teaspoon of minced garlic, remaining tablespoon of chopped ginger, 3 tablespoons of finely chopped scallions, the pork, egg yolk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and crushed red pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.



Working on a flat work surface, lay out a few of the wontons. (Keep remaining wonton wrappers covered with plastic wrap.) Fill a small bowl partially with cool water and set aside. Using a teaspoon measure, place a heaping teaspoonful of the meat filling in the center of each wonton. Using your fingers, lightly wet the edges of the wonton. Bring 2 opposite corners of the wonton together to form a triangle and enclose the filling, pressing edges firmly around the mound of filling to eliminate any air pockets and seal. Moisten opposite corners of the long side. Curl moistened corners toward each other, overlapping one on top of the other, and press the edges together to seal. You should now have a rounded stuffed wonton with a triangle poking up at the top. Assemble the remaining wontons in the same manner. When the wontons are all assembled, set aside.





Add the sliced baby bok choy, and mushrooms to the broth and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.



Using your hands or a slotted spoon, gently add the prepared wontons to the simmering broth. Increase the heat slightly so that the broth returns to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally (very gently), until the wontons float and the pork filling is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.



The scallion pancakes were...good, but kind of a hassle. They really weren't that hard to make, it's just that the dough was kind of sticky and annoying, and the whole thing was too much work and mess for what I was hoping would be a quick, easy appetizer course. I don't think I'll be making them again any time soon, but I'll show you a picture of my finished product and point you toward this recipe if you want to try it. She did a much better job of documenting each step of the process with photos.



They were pretty tasty dipped in soy sauce. As for the soup, the wontons were great. The broth needed some salt added, since it calls for low-sodium chicken broth and the only salt in the recipe is the soy sauce mixed into the pork in the wontons. But I was surprised how easy the whole thing was, even making the wontons. The only advice I would give is to make sure the wontons are sealed because when you fold the bottom two corners in sometimes the edges pop open. And also - his recipe called for 1/2 cup of sliced bamboo shoots, but I skipped those and added another 1/2 cup of mushrooms. Yum!

Red Lentil Soup

Well, the beans/nuts/grains section at Whole Foods got me again. This time, red lentils.



I wasn't sure what I was going to make with them, but I knew I had to have them. I was thinking I would probably use them as some sort of side dish, but I walked by a Middle Eastern restaurant on my way home and started thinking about lentil soup. Here's my adaptation of a recipe I found on allrecipes.com:

Serves 2-3
2 2/3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup pound red lentils
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 small/medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon salt
chopped cilantro, for garnish
fresh lemon juice, for garnish

Bring chicken stock and lentils to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and onion, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 3 minutes.



Stir onions into the lentils and season with cumin, salt and pepper. Continue simmering until the lentils are tender, about 10 minutes.



Garnish with cilantro and a bit of fresh lemon juice.



So quick and easy! You can puree the soup using an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender, but I like the texture of the onions. Since I came up with the idea for soup on my way home, I hadn't thought ahead to buy some pita bread for dipping. Next time.

Chicken Stock

Everyone sings the praises of homemade chicken stock - cooking show hosts, restaurant chefs, my mom, my cats...ok not really, but you get the point. It's no secret that homemade chicken stock is far superior to what you buy in the store, it's just that I hadn't gotten around to making any until now. Whenever I'm making a recipe that calls for chicken stock, I never have the foresight to make any chicken stock a day in advance. But, the chicken carcasses were starting to pile up in my freezer so I figured it was about time to do something with them.

I called my mom to ask her for a recipe, because she recently did some sort of class on stocks and showed me the packet of recipes when I was home in March. But she wasn't home when I called and I was too impatient to wait, so I consulted the next best person for this...Ina Garten. Ina's recipe calls for whole chickens, and I had carcasses so I had to adjust a bit. Plus, I didn't want to make such a huge amount (her recipe calls for 7 quarts of water). I don't even have a pot that big. So here is her recipe with my adjustments.

2 whole chicken carcasses, plus leftovers from 2 bone-in chicken breasts
1 large yellow onion, unpeeled and quartered
3 carrots, unpeeled and halved
2 stalks celery with leaves, cut into thirds
2 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half, optional
10 sprigs fresh parsley
7-8 sprigs fresh thyme
10 sprigs fresh dill
1/2 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, and seasonings in a large stockpot. Add 3 to 3 1/2 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 4 hours. Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard the solids. Chill the stock overnight. The next day, remove the surface fat. Use immediately or pack in containers and freeze for up to 3 months.



That's the beginning of the stock. I went with the optional parsnips. Now for the gross part. I refrigerated the stock overnight, and then removed the surface fat. Ewwww.



The stock actually looked green when I took it out of the fridge, but as you can see once I started skimming off that layer of fat I had a nice, rich, brown chicken stock.



The only tip I would give is if you're unsure how much water to add, err on the side of less rather than more. You can always add more, or dilute it if it's too concentrated once it's done. But if you add to much in the beginning...not much you can do to fix it. Ina's original recipe called for three 5-lb whole chickens, 7 quarts of water, and double the rest of the ingredients I listed, and actually triple the onions (she calls for 3 onions but I used one because the one I had was pretty big). If you go with whole chickens (or chicken parts) instead of leftovers, you can eat the chicken once the broth is done cooking. I used the stock for the lentil and vegetable soup, and yes...it was SO much better than store-bought stock.

P.S. I made homemade granola bars yesterday for the fourth time, and this time I used dried strawberries and Turkish figs instead of dates, apricots and raisins. Yummm.

Lentil and Vegetable Soup

I watched Ina Garten make this soup on her show recently, and it looked so good. And then I realized I had the recipe in one of her cookbooks that I own. Here is the full recipe which serves 8-10, but I cut it in half.

1 pound French green lentils, picked over and rinsed
Boiling water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 large onions)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
4 cups chopped leeks, white and tender green parts only (2 large leeks)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups celery, cut into 1/2-inch dice (8 celery ribs)
3 cups carrots, cut into 1/2-inch dice (6 carrots)
3 quarts chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons dry red wine or red wine vinegar
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

In a large heatproof bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and let stand for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onions, garlic, leeks, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons of pepper and the thyme and cumin and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Add the celery and carrots and cook until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste and lentils to the pot. Increase the heat to high, cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, reduce the heat to moderate and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, about 1 hour. Stir in the red wine and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of Parmesan.



Cutting it in half was the perfect amount for two people for dinner and leftovers for lunch. The cumin gave it a really good flavor, and I used homemade chicken stock which made a huge difference (more on that later). I loved the parmesan on top...I actually wish I had made parmesan croutons or toasts instead, that would have been even better. Next time!

Soupe de Carottes

Sounds prettier than carrot soup, doesn't it? This recipe is from French Women Don't Get Fat, so I think it's appropriate to call it soupe de carottes. This is really the quickest, easiest soup to make.



5 cups peeled and sliced carrots
pinch sugar
salt
pepper
1 dollop butter
fresh dill or coriander, to garnish

Place the carrots in a pot with an equal amount boiling water. Cook until al dente, about 15 minutes.

Purée the soup in a food mill. Season to taste with a pinch of sugar, salt, and pepper. Just before serving add a dollop of butter and some fresh dill or coriander.

Of course, I changed it just a little. Use however many cups of carrots you want, and don't worry about having an equal amount of water in the pot. Just cook the carrots and then add however much water you want to the blender/food processor. I used about 4 cups of carrots, and probably only 2 or 2 1/2 cups of water instead of 4 because I wanted the soup to be thicker. I added about 1 tablespoon of butter to the pot of soup rather than putting a little in each individual serving. And I skipped the sugar because carrots are already sweet and I wanted the soup to be saltier.

If you wanted to spice it up you could add potatoes, leeks, onions, or just some cream :)

Oops

Part of cooking is trial and error. Over the past couple days I've made a few things that didn't exactly turn out as planned. Ok, so it wasn't this bad...



...but I thought I should share anyway.

First of all, I made the granola bars again. I didn't measure the honey, I just eyeballed it and I realized once it was too late that I only used about 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup. When I tried to cut them they pretty much crumbled. You definitely need to use 1/2 - 2/3 cup honey to keep them intact. However, I did get some nice chunky granola to put on my Greek yogurt. It's actually a good way to make granola with nice big clumps, if that's what you're going for. But if you're going for granola bars, use more honey.



And the other mistake - chicken noodle soup. Peter is home sick and I decided I should make him chicken noodle soup. It really wasn't that bad of a mistake, I just put too much pasta in so it ended up being more of a stew than a soup - the pasta to chicken/vegetable ratio was off, plus the pasta soaked up most of the chicken stock. But it did taste really good. Here's the recipe with the correct amount of pasta.



2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
salt & pepper
olive oil
8 cups chicken stock
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
herbs de provence (optional)
1/2 a 16 oz. box of pasta (I used mini bow tie pasta)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the chicken breasts with olive oil, and a sprinkle a good amount of salt and pepper over them. Don't be shy with the salt and pepper. I sliced the skin almost entirely off, put olive oil, salt, and pepper on the actual meat, then covered it back up with the skin to cook. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Pour enough olive oil in a large soup pot just to cover the bottom. Heat the oil for a few minutes over medium heat, then add the onion, carrots, and celery. Add salt, pepper, and about 2 tsp of herbs de provence over the vegetables. Cook vegetables for about 5 minutes, then add all of the chicken stock. Turn heat up to high to bring the liquid to a boil, and add the pasta. Turn the heat down to low just a couple minutes before the pasta is done, as the pasta will continue to cook in the liquid even once the heat is lowered.

When the chicken is done cut it up into small pieces and add to the soup. Taste the soup for salt and pepper - I probably ended up adding almost 1 Tbl of salt to the soup over the course of cooking, but as I said I used too much pasta so if I had used the right amount I may not have needed so much salt. It all depends on how salty you like it, whether you used regular or low-sodium stock, etc.