Hearty chicken and vegetable soup

Photography by Mark O'Meara

Warm up your Friday night with this hearty soup - the winner of this week's soup recipe food fight.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 leek, halved, washed, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 large carrot, peeled, diced
• 2 sticks celery, diced
• 2 small zucchini, diced
• 1 swede or turnip, peeled, diced
• 1 1/4 cups dry soup mix, rinsed (see note)
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1kg skinless chicken lovely legs

Method

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until soft but not coloured. Add carrot, celery, zucchini and swede. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in soup mix, stock, chicken and 1 cup cold water. Increase heat to high. Bring to the boil.
2. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or until soup mix and vegetables are tender.
3. Remove chicken legs from soup. Allow to cool slightly. Remove meat from bones. Roughly chop chicken meat and add to soup. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into warmed bowls. Serve.

Notes

• Packet dry soup mix is a combination of split peas and lentils. You can find it near the chickpeas in the supermarket.
• Take a trip around the globe with our range of international recipe collections. Start with our French recipes, Thai recipes, Turkish recipes and Spanish recipes.

Source: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/705/hearty+chicken+and+vegetable+soup

pb notes:
On request, omitted zucchini and replaced the swede/turnip with a large potato. Tasty yummy... just have to remember to stir more next time as soup at the bottom was a little burnt. Seems to have a bit of an after taste?

Tasty Beef And Vegetable Soup

Serves: 8
Preparation time: 15 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 600 g chuck steak or casserole beef, diced into 2 cm cubes
• 3 carrots, diced into 2 cm cubes
• 1 medium swede, diced into 2 cm cubes
• 3 sticks celery, diced into 2 cm cubes
• 1 large onion, diced finely
• 4 cloves garlic, diced finely
• 2 rashers bacon, diced finely
• ½ cup dried soup bean mix, soaked for at least 1 hour prior to cooking
• 2 potatoes, diced into 2 cm cubes
• 6-8 cups chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon onion salt
• 1 tablespoon dried mix herbs
• ½ cup diced continental parsley
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Place onion, bacon and garlic 1. aside in a bowl.
2. Place swede, potatoes, carrots, and celery aside in a bowl together.
3. Heat a large pot with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Brown beef for 2 minutes on high, add bacon, onion and garlic and sauté.
4. Add remaining vegetables, and washed and rinsed soup mix.
5. Add chicken stock, onion salt and herbs.
6. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2 hours or until meat is tender.
7. Season with salt and pepper, and add parsley.

Recipe notes
Additional ingredients which my kids love are 1 ball of vermicilli or egg noodles added 20 minutes prior to serving, or even ½ cup of rice, which is nice to thicken it up. This recipe is lovely served with a sliced pane de casa stick from the bakery and butter, or crunchy bread rolls.
Source: http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Tasty-Beef-And-Vegetable-Soup-L8124.html

Recipe #8124 Submitted by: amyhaley

pb notes:
Used canned beans instead of dried beans (don't know what they are) and didn't use onion salt (couldn't find it) and it still worked out fine.

Sesame Chicken Dip

36 ServingsPrep: 35 min. + chilling

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
• 3 packages (8 ounces each) reduced-fat cream cheese
• 8 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts
• 2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach
• 1 jar (10 ounces) sweet-and-sour sauce
• Sesame rice crackers

Directions

• In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic; add the chicken. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

• Spread cream cheese onto a large serving platter; top with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with onions, peanuts and spinach. Drizzle with sweet-and-sour sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.Serve with crackers. Yield: 36 servings (1/4 cup each).

Nutrition Facts: 1/4 cup (calculated without crackers) equals 97 calories, 6 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 25 mg cholesterol, 195 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 7 g protein.

Cutting Green Onions

I recently tried a recipe that called for 3/4 cup green onions. Instead of using a knife, I found that snipping the onions with a pair of kitchen scissors took only a few seconds. —Kristy B., Kelowna, British Columbia

Sesame Chicken Dip published in Taste of Home December/January 2009, p41

Source: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Sesame-Chicken-Dip

pb notes:
I shortened the time in the fridge cos we were short on time and it still tasted yummy.