Anyway, I've gotten back into Soup At Work the last couple of weeks. Last week's soup was Potato and Roasted Chile. Really good and spicier than I had planned, a big hit at work and at home.
This week's Soup At Work is Pumpkin Chicken Chowder, taking the Halloween theme to heart. I got this recipe from Maggie Stuckey's book "Soup Night". If you refer to page 259 you'll see a page about yours truly and my background with Soup At Work.
As I mentioned, I picked this soup as recognition of tomorrow being Halloween. It was an easy soup to prepare with minimal slicing required, just the onions and bell peppers. Most of the other ingredients are packaged or canned. Except the chicken. The recipe calls for chicken breast but I almost always use thigh meat because it is more flavorful and tends not to become as dry as breast meat. It is usually less expensive also. The colors in the soup are very striking; orange, yellow, red, green. I love colorful soups!
Hope you enjoy. This recipe serves 6-8
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp canola oil
4 chicken thighs, skinned and boned, cut into bite size pieces
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups of chicken broth
2 16oz cans of pumpkin puree
1 cup of Trader Joe's canned yellow corn or frozen corn if no TJ's is available
2/3 cup of uncooked rice, brown or white
1 tsp of dried basil
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of black pepper
Fresh lemon juice to taste
METHOD
- Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
- Add the chicken, onions, bell peppers, and garlic.
- Saute' until the chicken is no longer pink, about 8-10 minutes
- Add the broth, pumpkin, corn, rice, basil, salt, and pepper. Stir well.
- Bring the soup to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer gently, covered, until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Season with the lemons juice to taste
- Serve hot.