Semi Homemade Chicken Soup

I'm the kind of person that always has a few bottles of homemade ragu and broth in my freezer, along with some type of cookie dough, fresh cut corn and anything out of season that I may be hoarding for the winter. I try to make everything from scratch and hate using anything pre-made, unless it's completely necessary, or puff pastry, because I'm just not gifted like that.

However, there are times when my stock is depleted and Buzza gets sick at 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon. This means there won't be enough time to make a fresh pot of homemade chicken soup by dinner time. So in times like these, I channel Sandra Lee and and make the most home-made tasting semi home-made chicken soup ever. Say that ten times fast.

The point of this recipe is to make a chicken soup that takes less than one hour to make. If you have time, you can let it simmer longer to get more flavor.

Ingredients

2 quarts of low sodium chicken broth

1 quart plus of water

2 chicken quarters (I prefer dark meat, but you can substitute for chicken breast as well)

1/2 onion or 2 medium shallots, diced

2 sprigs of rosemary (or any other herbs you have, thyme, sage, parsley would all work well)

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of salt (more or less depending on taste)

1 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper

1 large carrot, diced

1 large tomato, diced

4 mushrooms, sliced

1 cup of corn, frozen or canned

1 cup of green peas, frozen or canned

1 cup of orzo pasta

1/2 bag of spinach (2 handfuls)

1 tablespoon parsley to garnish

Note: I basically used any vegetable that was in my fridge and freezer. You should also customize this soup to what you have readily available. I also had less than 2 quarts of chicken broth handy, so I used a lower ratio of broth to water. This worked fine, as I adjusted the seasoning.

1. In a medium pot, place your chicken, shallots, herbs, salt and pepper. Pour in the chicken broth and then fill up the rest of the pot with water until the chicken is covered about 2 inches deep. The water line should be 2 inches from the rim.
2. Bring the broth to a boil and then lower to a high simmer for 30 minutes. A high simmer means you have lots of small bubbles, which is not quite boiling.
3. Put in the carrots and tomatoes. Continue to high simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Take out the two chicken quarters and set in a large bowl. Let cool.
5. Take out the herbs and bay leaves, discard.
6. Put in the orzo, mushrooms, corn and peas and bring the broth to a low simmer.
7. Season the broth with more salt and pepper if desired.
8. Take the chicken and shred the meat using two forks. Save the skin and bones in the freezer to be used in broth another time, or discard.
9. Take one soup bowl, fill it up with one handful of fresh spinach and some shredded chicken.
10. Ladle the broth in the bowl. The spinach should wilt right away.