Chicken with Rice Soup from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ah the cool weather makes you want a nice bowl of soup, doesn't it?  I have a desire to become a really good soup maker. 

I started with Chicken with Rice Soup because it seemed simple and tasty and just a good place to start.

I found this recipe that looked just as I wanted my soup to look:

Easy Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe

by Two Peas on February 19, 2010

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices

2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

4 fresh thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

2 quarts chicken stock or broth (we use low sodium)

1 cup of water

1 cup long grain white rice

1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Place a soup pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken broth and water- bring the liquid to a boil. Add in the rice and chicken; season with salt and pepper. Cook on medium-low until the rice is tender-about 30 minutes. Serve hot.
*Note-for the shredded chicken I used 2 large chicken breasts. I boiled a pot of water on the stove and added in the chicken-which I cut into large pieces. Boil the chicken until it is cooked all the way through and there is no pink left. This will take about 7 minutes or so. Drain the water and shred the chicken once it is cooled. I use 2 forks to shred the chicken. *


My Notes:

I had many of the ingredients.  I liked that I didn't have to pre-cook the rice ahead of time.

I find cloves of garlic to be too strong and the taste to be acrid so I peeled one and snipped a few tiny slices slices off of the end of a clove. Plenty! 

I used powdered thyme, had no bay leaf (but now I have some :) and I used ground pepper, not the freshly ground stuff.

I cooked the chicken breasts for about half an hour and poked them with a fork to make sure they were cooked.  Removing the skin wasn't too bad of a job.  I used the single fork method to removed the meat from the bones/breast.   I poured in about three cups of the broth made by cooking the chicken in place of some of the broth.  I didn't get my chicken pieces quite as small and tidy as I might have.

Next time I make it I would reduce the uncooked rice to 1/2 cup because I'd like it a little more soupy, if you know what I mean.

The soup was the best soup I've ever eaten.  Wonderful flavor, just the best.

I see below my spouse wants all the rice, so we'll stick with one cup.