Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo

Years ago I had lemon soup with orzo at a Greek diner. I'd never had lemon soup before, but since I love all things lemon, I was delighted.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I had a bad cold and didn't have an appetite. Suddenly lemon appealed to me, so I decided to try to make a lemon chicken soup with orzo.

First step was to cook the chicken. Once that was ready, I added it to some broth (I used a combination of bone broth and low sodium chicken)with some carrots, lots of herbs, and a hearty squeeze (more like 1/2 a cup) of lemon.







I simmered some spinach separately so it wouldn't wilt, and added it right before serving.




I cooked the orzo separately and then spooned the soup over it.





The soup was delicious and tasted even better with bread two days later! The lemon added a perfect zing.

7 comments:

  1. This soup sounds amazing and the perfect thing for when you're not feeling well. I can't wait to try it!

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    1. Thanks, LeAnne. I think I might go a little lighter on the lemon in the future, but it was so tasty.

      A lot of the broth got absorbed into the chicken, so later in the week, I had an amazing leftover chicken sandwich.

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  2. Mary Cate, this sounds sooo good! Thanks for sharing!

    You know, I've never noticed chicken bone broth! I'll have to look for that at the grocery store.

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    1. I'd never actually tried it before, but I think it gave an extra depth to the soup's flavor, Missy. The lemon was the real scene-stealer though.

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  3. This looks marvelous, Cate! You know I've learned to do this with pasta for chicken soup, too.... because I don't want it overdone. So I cook it separate and we all add what we want. Skinny Beth (SIGH!!!!) doesn't add any....

    I add a good helping of pasta AND have a Sister Shubert's roll on the side.

    I will never be a skinny person again.

    But I'm okay being a medium person!!!!

    So the lemon gave it some bite and character, hmm??? I wouldn't have thought of that, Cate-girl!!!

    And I do not want to talk about Red Sox baseball... but how is my buddy Fenway doing?

    You know that my Libby had a cancerous growth taken out last summer.... and she's awfully tired lately. She's even climbed onto a lounge chair (Seth and Lacey left it here) and sleeps there now, just these past two days, as if the floor is just too hard for old bones... and at 11 years old, I don't have it in me to make her get down.

    I must have grown a "nice" bone at some point!

    Thanks for this idea, Cate. Can't wait to try it.

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    1. I didn't know that about Libby. I'm so sorry. Fenway is almost 11 now too. But since we almost lost him at 7, I'm just grateful for all these extra years. Praying Libby is just tired of the cold like the rest of us.

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  4. Ooo…this looks yummy, Mary Cate. I bet that lemon really transforms the soup. A very interesting combination indeed. Might need to give it a whirl.
    P.S. I hope you're feeling better.

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