This is one fabulous soup recipe!

I am a huge soup fan, both winter and summer. But in the winter I tend to make vegetable and broth based soups in place of cream base. So when I first saw this recipe I kept putting off trying it due to the cream.

IMG_9927_wm

Looking good in an antique Italian bowl!

Scroll down and you will see there is no onion OR garlic in here! This might be the first time I’ve encountered this kind of recipe and it was another reason I just was not sure.
Fear not. It has A LOT of taste, regardless.

CREAMY CHICKEN SOUP WITH AUTUMN VEGETABLES
 
Print
 
Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Serves: 4-5 servings
Ingredients
  • 4½ tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 1½ cups diced butternut squash, cut into ½" cubes
  • 4 oz small Brussel Sprouts, ends cut off, cut lengthwise into ¼" slices
  • 4 oz small brown mushrooms, cut into ¼" slices
  • ½ cup thinly sliced leeks
  • 2½ tbsp flour
  • 3 cups chicken broth and extra if needed
  • 1½ cups Half and Half
  • 1½ tsp crushed dried rosemary
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
Instructions
  1. In a large, heavy pot set over medium heat, heat 2 tbsp of the butter and the oil. Add the butternut squash and Brussel Sprouts and saute, stirring frequently, 3 minutes.
  2. Next, add the mushrooms, stir and cook for 3 minutes more.
  3. Add the leeks, ½ tsp. salt and some pepper.
  4. Continue to cook, stirring often, until vegetables are lightly browned and just tender, about 2 minutes or more.
  5. Remove the vegetables from pot and set aside.
  6. To the same pot add the remaining 2½ tbls. butter and when melted, stir in the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Add the broth, Half and Half, 1½ tsp rosemary, ½ tsp. salt and pepper and whisk until the mixture comes to a good simmer and thickens slightly, 4 minutes or more.
  7. Return the vegetables to the pot and also add the chicken. Cook until the chicken and vegetables are heated through, 3-4 minutes.

A few notes of my own:

  1. I do use Half & Half, calories and all. Some people have used milk and while I’m sure that works, I prefer the richness of some cream. Hey, if you’re going to have a cream based soup you might as well go all the way, no?
  2. I cut the squash in very small pieces. And yes, I buy the precut in a plastic box in the produce section.
  3. I’m not a leek fan, but these are delicious!
  4. To freeze: leave out the cream entirely. Freeze the soup, then after it has defrosted, add the cream as you heat the soup. You CAN freeze with cream, but it will tend to curdle or separate or become thicker as you warm it (and the slower you reheat, the better.) I just tried this yesterday and it works: defrost and/or heat up the cream-less soup very slowly (do not microwave.) Try not to disturb the frozen chunk more than necessary. Then add your cream. The final product is not as thick and creamy as the original, but it works!
Soup_wm

Out of the freezer, into the pot, and very slowly heating up.

This entire recipe is thanks to Betty Rosbottom at www.bettyrosbottom.com

Betty is actually a friend of a friend, and is also a Francophile (!), and a cookbook author, teacher and TV personality. Read all about her on her blog. But I want to thank her for permission to reprint this recipe here.

Her new book “Soup Nights” will be out in October 2016, published by Rizzoli.

Let us know if you try this, if you like it, and any other comments. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

signature2