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.
