Having stay at home orders during the Covid-19 virus pandemic has meant relying on what we have in our pantry, freezer and left in our winter gardens. In my case it meant creating a meal from chicken, lentils, root vegetables, and kale flowers from overwintered Tuscan kale. This hearty soup will nourish your family and satisfy your taste buds. It's easy to make and very budget friendly. I don't normally cook with chicken breast as it's expensive and chicken thighs have more flavour and are much cheaper. However, only chicken breast were available, so that's what I used. To make preparation even simpler and to add more flavour, I actually cook chicken right on the bone in the soup. So when you are making soup or stews, buy bone in thighs or breasts(also even cheaper). Most people don't have overwintered vegetables in their garden, so just add sliced kale to the soup at the end of cooking. I add the whole stem of Rosemary to the soup. The Rosemary leaves will naturally fall off the woody stem during the cooking and at the end you just need to remove the stem from the soup.
Cover the bottom of a deep Dutch Oven pot with olive oil, turn the heat to medium and add the onions and sauté until softened, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the broth and then the chicken, bay leaves and rosemary sprigs.
Turn up the heat and bring the soup to a boil, then lower heat to medium low. Add the lentils and cook for 10 minutes or so. Add the carrots and celery and continue to simmer until lentils are soft and the vegetables are cooked but still have a slight firmness to them. Remove the bay leaves, rosemary stems and the chicken.
Allow the chicken to cool and remove it from the bone. Take 6 cups of the soup and pureé it in a food processor, blender or use a hand held immersion blender. Add the chicken and the pureéd soup back to the soup in the pot. Pour in the creamer and turn the heat to medium. Add the kale and sea salt and pepper.
Your soup is now ready to eat!
Serving Size 1 1/2 cups
Servings 0