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Tuscan Chicken Soup

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Tuscan Chicken Soup

Man, the soups are slaying this fall. This one is in the same category as the Zinger Chicken Soup, which is zestier, and Viking Lentil Stew, which is heartier. This one, above all, is warm. Just warm. Super freaking cozy while maintaining a light level of flavor profile intrigue. It’s a curious little sweater of a soup for fall and winter evenings that takes exactly 1 hour to get on your table.

⛄🔥❄️

what you need

1 quart (36 fl oz) chicken broth + 1 cup water

~3 small white or red potatoes, skinned and diced tiny

~3-4 carrots, skinned and diced tiny

2-3 cups swiss chard, washed and chopped coursely (without the stems removed)

1 tablespoon salted butter

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 yellow onion, diced tiny

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lb fresh white meat chicken

1 can (8 oz) cannellini beans (or other white bean of choice)

zest from 1 full lemon

1 parmesan cheese rind

freshly grated parmesan cheese for serving

2 tablespoons olive oil per bowl for serving

how to make it

Method: stovetop

Utensil: Dutch oven or large cooking pot

Melt butter over medium heat in pot. Add diced onion, sauté for 2 minutes, then add minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute more. Add the thyme, oregano, and crushed red pepper, and give it a good stir.

Place the parmesan rind, chicken broth, water, and whole pieces of chicken in the pot with a generous amount of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer with the pot covered for ~30 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot to a cutting board and shred it with a fork. Then return it to the pot. Also remove the parmesan rind from the pot and throw it away.

Add the potatoes, carrots, and beans to the pot and simmer, covered, for an additional 2o minutes. At this point, kill the heat and add the lemon zest and swiss chard, stirring a bit, then covering the pot (without heat) for 5 more minutes.  

Note: at this point, you can add a splash of heavy cream of half & half if you want the soup truly creamy, but I find that the starch from the potatoes and the beans has thickened it to my particular liking. 

Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of really good olive oil per bowl (you should be able to see plenty of the little oil beads in the soup). Grate some fresh parmesan cheese on top and enjoy immediately.

more warm soups for winter
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Veggie

Vegetable Stew and Simple Croutons

oneandahalfslices winter root vegetable stew recipe croutons hearty winter
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Winter Root Vegetable Stew with Easy Croutons

oneandahalfslices winter root vegetable stew recipe croutons hearty winter

I was today-years-old when I discovered croutons. Obviously, I’ve had a crouton before but I’ve certainly never made one or put them in anything. Well that’s all about to change. Before any of you get intimidated and think that a garnishment like a crouton is far too fancy for you to whip up on a weekday soup night, let me explain exactly how unfussy and zero frills this whole crouton business is. Before I began preparing the stew this afternoon, I took a brief moment of silence for all the two-day-old loaves of bread I have chucked in the past decade. Aside from fantasizing about all the fall of soups in which these croutons are to find themselves in short order, this winter root vegetable stew is precisely the thing your overflowing CSA bag calls for. When you’ve got too many turnips, carrots, potatoes, and a sack full of random winter greens, this is the soup you make. If you need the extra carb, add barley. And if you can’t live without meat, add chicken. Otherwise, enjoy as is… and don’t skip the croutons. I channeled major #fallvibes by serving this up with a batch of my Autumn Sangria. 🍷🍊🍷

what you need

2-3 shallots or 1 yellow onion, crudely diced

3 cloves of garlic, crudely minced

1 tablespoon course sea salt

2 tablespoons thyme

3 tablespoons olive oil 

2-3 potatoes of choice

1 turnip

4-5 carrots

1 bunch swiss chard or kale

(butternut squash, sweet potato, parsnips, celery, and other root vegetables also welcome)

5-6 cups vegetable stock

(optional) 1/2 cup raw barley

For the croutons:

6-7 pieces of old, crusty, hearty bread, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

1/2 cup olive oil

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons dried rosemary

1 tablespoon salt

how to make it

In a Dutch oven or large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the shallots and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes, careful not to burn the garlic, and add the thyme and salt. You can also throw in some red pepper flakes if you want a little bit of spice. Once the mixture is aromatic, you can add the vegetable stock, stir it well, and bring it to a gentle boil.

Preheat the oven to 350. While waiting for the soup to boil, dice your root vegetables of choice, in this case, potatoes, turnip, and carrots. Add them to the soup, cover, and simmer gently for 30 to 40 minutes. Throw in the barley as well, if using. Pro tip: If you want to add a bit of depth to the flavor, throw in the rind of a block of parmesan cheese. Just don’t forget to take it out before you serve!

While the soup is simmering, cut your winter greens into thin strips. When potatoes are soft, uncover the soup, bump the heat back up to a gentle boil, and add the greens. They will only take 5 to 10 minutes to wilt.

In the meantime, toss your bread with the olive oil, cheese, rosemary, and salt. I find it makes sense to add the olive oil in stages to avoid it being immediately absorbed into the top layer of bread. Once the croutons are prepped, spread them out on a baking pan and bake in the oven on 350 for 15 minutes. Finish the croutons with two to three minutes under the broiler.

Ladle up a bowl, top with croutons, and enjoy the coziest meal you’ll eat this winter. 

Soups Begging for Croutons
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Veggie

Creamy Sweet Potato Stew

creamy coconut sweet potato soup recipe oneandahalfslices
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Creamy Coconut Sweet Potato Stew

As we bring October to a close and launch into November, we are still sticking to vegan weekdays and meat-friendly weekends. We’ve been out and about to The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm, Clarity, and Founding Farmer’s for our non-vegan exploits, and are soon headed to try Kinship’s sister prix-fix locale Métier.

To pull off vegan weekdays and still keep the gentlemen appeased, I have relied heavily on Laura Wright of The First Mess, arguably my favorite vegan food blog. I’ll get a vegan gravy recipe up here on the blog soon that you won’t possibly believe is vegan – it’s the best gravy I’ve ever had.

But for now, we are a little tired of lentils and were looking for something to do with copious amounts of sweet potatoes (yes, we’ve made Sweet Potato Pie). Hence this little gem was discovered. Creamy with coconut milk, almost like curry. Spiced with flavors of the same. Hearty with sweet potato and flourished with kale. Yes, there are still a few lentils, but they are hardly the stars of the show. This soup is light enough for any season and feels perfectly at home here at the end of October. 🧡

what you need

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 onion, diced

(optional) 1-2 shallots, diced

1 tablespoon dried chili flakes or 1 hot chili, minced

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 small knob of fresh ginger root, minced or grated

1 garlic clove, minced or grated

1 extra large sweet potato, peeled and diced (option here to sub some sweet potato for carrot)

1/2 cup French lentils

4 cups vegetable broth

1 can (13 oz) coconut milk (I used slightly less than 1 can)

1 bunch of kale, swiss chard, or mustard greens, de-ribbed and cut into thin strips

Fresh cilantro, lime wedges, naan wedges, and more chili flakes to garnish 

how to make it

Melt the coconut oil over medium heat on the stove in a Dutch oven. Add the onion and the shallots, and sauté until translucent, ~3-5 minutes. Add the chili flakes, spices, ginger, garlic, plus a hefty pinch of salt. Let sit in pot for another ~1 minute, then stir, scraping any brown bits up off the bottom. 

Add the sweet potatoes/carrots and lentils, stirring everything to combine. Once combined, add the vegetable broth and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, check to ensure the sweet potatoes are tender. 

Add the coconut milk and the kale to the pot, and simmer another 5 minutes. Spoon into bowls and top with fresh cilantro, a squeeze from a lime wedge, and more chili flakes. 

Note: I like to buy store-bought naan; cut it into strips or wedges; top with olive oil, salt, and black pepper; and broil for a few minutes in the oven, flipping once. This makes nice little crispy strips to garnish any stew!

🌶🧅🍲
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Lemon Chickpea Stew

stew soup recipe fall One and a Half Slices lemon chickpea vegan dish
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Lemon Chickpea Stew

stew soup recipe fall One and a Half Slices lemon chickpea vegan dish

If you didn’t catch my Mushroom Lentil Stew of last week, this vegan beauty came right on its heels. Welcoming Fall in vegan/vegetarian style, the theme of this October is lentils and other legumes. The chickpea is a protein-packed, fiber saturated, hearty meal staple. This soup recipe boasts a super unique flavor comprised of lemon zest, really good olive oil, red chili flakes, and the lowly potato. Just one more example of how fresh, local, in-season produce carries all the flavor you’ll ever need. This stew is filling yet humble. It is bold; it isn’t fancy. It doesn’t require an exotic cocktail pairing… it’s just a simple stew for a simple weeknight to remind you to be thankful for a warm stomach, an engaged palette, and a full plate … (or bowl, in this instance).

Looking for more ways to use chickpeas? Try my Moroccan Tagine.   

what you need

1 1/2 cups chickpeas (if canned, rinsed and drained; if fresh, soaked and boiled)

4 small white potatoes, diced small

1 large carrot, diced small

1 large celery stalk, diced small

1 medium yellow onion, diced small

4 cups vegetable broth

Lemon juice from half a lemon

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 chili pepper, minced (or chili pepper flakes)

Olive oil

Fresh thyme

Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste 

4 cups thinly sliced swiss chard or baby spinach

how to make it

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, ~5 minutes.  Add garlic and chili pepper, and cook ~1 minute more. Add carrots and celery, and cook ~7 minutes more. Add thyme, salt, pepper, and lemon zest, and stir until combined. 

Add potatoes, chickpeas, and vegetable broth, and simmer on low, covered, for ~30-45 minutes. Uncover and check stew for taste, adding more spices as needed. Ladle about half the stew into a blender and puree until smooth. Add the pureed stew back to the pot. Add lemon juice and chard/spinach, stir, and cook, uncovered, ~15 minutes more. 

Ladle into bowls and serve with toasted naan or crusty bread. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil on top (don’t skip this! adds to flavor, especially if you have good olive oil) and sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Enjoy!
Other Stews
rabbit chicken cassoulet recipe simple one pot one and a half slices

Rabbit Cassoulet

Here we are with Protein #2 in our Protein Trio and it’s a bit of a non-standard one. We don’t often cook rabbit but… we totally should! It is more delicate than chicken with more flavor, but still not too gamey. Cassoulets are bean-based stews with a protein that can stew all day or come together quite quickly. They are hearty and Fall-ish, and I am thrilled to have this one on my table. You can make this with roasted chicken or a sausage if the rabbit is a stretch for you.

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September 22, 2023 No Comments

Broccoli Soup

This is a lighter but still very hearty take on broccoli cheddar soup, with a hint of extra cheese and crunch added in a floating cheesy crouton, like the sourdough hat on French Onion soup. If you’re skeptical that a bowl of broccoli soup can suffice for a full meal, give this one a try.  

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March 21, 2021 No Comments
lentil sausage stew soup recipe oneandahalfslices

Viking Lentil Stew

If there is crisp in the air, you want this. You want two bowls of this. And you want it with parmesan cheese on top. It is the most flavor-rich, complex soup I have probably ever tasted. It leaves you full, warm, and longing to make another pot. The secret is in the quality of the sausage.

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October 21, 2020 1 Comment
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Veggie

Mushroom Lentil Stew

mushroom stew lentil OneandahalfSlices One and a Half Slices weeknight recipe easy
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Mushroom Lentil Stew

mushroom stew lentil OneandahalfSlices One and a Half Slices weeknight recipe easy

In recent weeks rolling out of the summer months, I’ve been feeling overindulgent when it comes to food. Too much, too extravagant, not enough appreciation for simple, vibrant flavors and how they nourish a body. So I’m rolling back to simple, hearty, (mostly) vegan foods until Thanksgiving. Queue up the following series of fall-esque, hearty, healthy, locally-sourced, (mostly) vegan/vegetarian dishes. Take this stew for example. It has all the body and personality of a meat-based stew conceived of French lentils, soy sauce, white wine, hearty greens, and an unabashed serving of mixed mushrooms. (and yes, I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top for good measure) WELCOME TO FALL! 🍂🍁🍄 And shout out to The First Mess for the base recipe! 

what you need

1 cup French lentils, rinsed

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 finely diced shallots

2 finely diced garlic cloves

~1 pound mixed mushrooms! (any mushrooms! all mushrooms! bring them all!)

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup white wine

2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

2 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1/3 cup plant-based milk (I use Macadamia) or whole milk

3-4 stalks of kale, Swiss chard, or mustard greens

(optional) grated parmesan  cheese for topping

(optional) crusty bread for toasts!

🍵

how to make it

Boil lentils until tender, ~20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

While lentils cook, pour olive oil into stew pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add shallots and cook until translucent, ~4 minutes. Add all the sliced mixed mushrooms to the pot and cook for 1-2 minutes more, until mushrooms begin to glisten. Season the mixture liberally with salt, black pepper, the thyme, the garlic, and the red pepper flakes. Give it a good stir and let sit for 1 minute more.

🧅🧄🍄

Add the white wine and the soy sauce (I use tamari) and stir, cooking for ~3 minutes more. Add the drained lentils, the vegetable stock, and the plant-based milk, and bring the mixture to a slight boil, perhaps increasing the heat to medium-high.  After the mixture boils lightly for 5-7 minutes, ladle half the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. Return the smooth mixture to the soup pot and stir until combined. 

🍾🥄

Slice the kale into thin strips and add to the pot, stirring the entire mixture together. Cover and let simmer for anywhere from 5-15 minutes. The mixture should be thick and creamy, but you are welcome to thin it out with additional broth. Check for seasoning adding salt and pepper as desired. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top and a slice of crust hearth bread!

 

 

Other Soups and Stews
oneandahalfslices tomato soup recipe summer

Tomato Soup

Everyone needs a good, solid, simple tomato soup recipe because, let’s face it, if you’re past the age of 5, Campbell’s just doesn’t cut it. I don’t claim that this will be the best tomato soup you’ve ever tasted, but it is very straightforward and easy to whip up during the summer months when there is an excess of tomats. So get your grilled cheese ready (recipe to follow), turn on the oven, and slice up your beautiful reds. 🍅

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August 28, 2021 2 Comments

Tuscan Chicken Soup

This soup, above all, is warm. Just warm. Super freaking cozy while maintaining a light level of flavor profile intrigue. It’s a curious little sweater of a soup for fall and winter evenings that takes exactly 1 hour to get on your table.

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November 25, 2024 No Comments
lentil sausage stew soup recipe oneandahalfslices

Viking Lentil Stew

If there is crisp in the air, you want this. You want two bowls of this. And you want it with parmesan cheese on top. It is the most flavor-rich, complex soup I have probably ever tasted. It leaves you full, warm, and longing to make another pot. The secret is in the quality of the sausage.

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October 21, 2020 1 Comment
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Viking Lentil Stew

lentil sausage stew soup recipe oneandahalfslices
one and a half slices recipes local delicious food

Viking Stew

viking lentil sausage soup stew oneandahalfslices

It turns out raiding, forging 8th century alliances, and carving out new territory in the Saxon kingdoms really works up an appetite. It is definitely time to make Viking Stew. If there is crisp in the air, you want this stew. You want two bowls of it. And you want it with parmesan cheese on top. It is the most flavor-rich, complex soup I have ever tasted. It leaves you full, warm, and longing to make another pot. The secret is in the quality of the sausage.

what you need

1/8 cup olive oil

1 pound loose sausage of choice, hand rolled into small meatballs (I prefer Spring House Farm’s loose sage, nutmeg, or spicy sausage, but Whole Foods loose sage sausage will do just fine)

1 sweet onion

4 celery stalks

4 small-medium carrots

2 cloves garlic

1 cup French lentils

1 can crushed tomatoes

6 cups water

1 Bay leaf

2-6 cups (2 bunches) thin-cut chard of choice (swiss, rainbow, green)

Red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, oregano, thyme, to taste

finely grated parmesan cheese, to top

how to make it

Heat olive oil on stovetop in Dutch oven or large soup pot. Brown meatballs until they begin to cook through. Add onions, carrot, and celery (diced), garlic (minced), salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, and thyme and cook until onions are translucent. 

Once meat and veggies become fragrant, add lentils and stir until well-coated. Add crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, and water, and simmer covered on low heat for about 45 minutes-1 hour, or until lentils are tender.

Add spices to taste and chard (two bunches of chard is going to look like a TON, but it will cook down). Continue to simmer until chard is cooked through, about another 10-15 minutes.

Top with finely grated parmesan cheese (trust me, do not skip the parm; you’ll regret it).

Adjustments: Adjust water volume to make this more or less stew-like. You can also add an extra can of tomatoes if you like your stew extra tomato-y. Sometimes I like to throw in 1/2 cup of barley along with the lentils to stretch this soup a bit further. And, of course, the red pepper is optional (for spiciness) and chard can be substituted for any hearty green, like mustards or kale.    

It turns out claiming new territory and building a Viking settlement in the Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and East Anglia really works up an appetite. I’ve been hard at work in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, battle axe hardened by great elk antlers and wolf claws, and I decided it was time to make Viking Stew. 

Viking Stew is a cold weather tradition in this house – one that gets exercised almost weekly in the Winter months. Frosty videogames also come with the season. When virtual snow falls in Mel’s living room, it’s a sign of the times (see Frostpunk and The Long Dark for other wintertime favorites). 

But Vikings. They are fascinating.

Beyond the History channel’s Vikings, which had enough historical accuracy to be credible, Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the award-winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, we are not lacking for Viking lore in mainstream media. Vikings had a fascinating culture which drew on Norse mythology as strongly as The Lord of the Rings and Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelung. The word “Viking,” itself, is a verb, meaning to adventure, explore, or raid. They were an intense, vivid, unabashed folk whose arrival in Wessex in the 8th century drove the land in its evolution to becoming the modern-day England. Their reverence for the Gods and intense warfighting strategies (ghosted in 8th and 9th century tafl games such as hneftafl) gave them the reputation for being ruthless, heartless conquerors of foreign lands and slaughterers of Christian peoples. But the essence of the Viking culture was to take to the seas, create foreign settlements abroad, and, above all, live and die with honor worthy of the Norse Gods and, ultimately, a seat in Valhalla.

It is a beautiful, unique culture in the history of humankind. And it has absolutely nothing to do with this soup other than this hearty meal is the type of sustenance modern-day pop culture might associate with Vikings. Vikings subsisted primarily on fish, lamb, grains, and ale.  Pictured below are two of my Viking alter-egos – extra points for in-game photography skills.

Eivor
Senua