Escarole Soup Part II

chicken soup

What a day……..rainy days and Mondays always call for soup… I just had an espresso and now thinking about lunch (it’s part of my DNA). Since my two interns were coming into the office today, I thought it would be nice to have a nice bowl of soup for lunch.

I thought I would recycle last night’s escarole soup. OK..let’s get creative…….In my freezer, I had a package of chicken breasts (bone in). In my refrigerator, I made eye contact with left over baby carrots from last week’s party. The only vegetable in my refrigerator and ps, I was not motivated to run to the market in the rain…..

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (bone in)
3 cups of baby carrots
4 cloves whole garlic
Sea salt, black pepper (to taste)

Fill medium pot with cold water, medium heat. Add all ingredients: chicken breasts, carrots, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Cover enough water to the ingredients. Cook for two hours.

Let me oven roast some crostini with parmigiano and curred black olives:

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
6-8 sliced Italian bread
Extra virgin olive oil (drizzle over the bread)
Parmigiano grated cheese (1 cup)
Curred black olives (1/2 cup) (optional)
Red chili flakes (optional)
Pheasant Style Bread
Set oven at 400 degrees.

In a pan, lay the Italian bread and drizzle with olive oil, grated parmiagano cheese and curred black olives. Bake in the oven for approx. 10 minutes, until the bread has a nice golden crust.

In a soup terrine, add chicken breasts (cubed), left over escarole soup and fresh chicken broth.

For plating, add two pieces of the crostini in each dish before adding the fragrant soup! It was delicious!

Escarole Soup with Spaghetti

escarole potCooked everything in one pot!

dinner is servedDinner is served!

Today I was busy reviewing final details before my book goes to the printer. A little stressed and at 6pm. tonight, I took a quick break for dinner. No planning, just a few ingredients calling my name…..An example of how I prepare meals:
I opened the refrigerator and saw a bag of escarole that I forgot about calling my name. “Maria, I don’t have much time”. In my vegetable drawer, two red banana peppers (left over from last week). In my pantry, I saw a little spaghetti left over from a previous package (3 oz ).
Let me make a quick soup……

Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
1 bag of escarole (5 cups)
2 cloves of garlic (sliced)
Drizzle of olive oil (3 tbsp)
2 red banana peppers (sliced, remove seeds)
1 cube of vegetable boullion
3 cups of boiling water
3 oz of spaghetti (cut it in small pieces)
Sea salt, black pepper (to taste)
red chili peppers (optional)
Grated Parmigiano cheese (optional)
In a medium pot, heat medium, drizzle a little olive oil. Saute the garlic and red banana peppers for two minutes. Add a pinch of sea salt, black pepper and red chili flakes (optional).
Add escarole, ½ cup of water and top with lid for three minutes, stir occassionally.
Add three cups of hot water to the same pot
Add 1 vegetable boullion cube
Add the cut up spaghetti, stir occasionally. Cook the pasta according to the package directions (approx. 8-10 minutes).
Serve immediately and top with parmigiano cheese.
It was delicious! Also, cooking everything in one pot was easy clean up! I now have leftovers that I can have during the week or freeze for another time.
Back to work!