For those of you that are new here, you might not realize that I am a huge fan of soup. I have posted a few recipes and counted 20+ posts that refer to soup. You get it; I like soup.

Here is a new recipe. Using the 1 pot formula, but ready in about 45 minutes, if not less. Let’s give this one a title eh?

1 Pot Weeknight soup

Above I linked up a recipe that takes hours to finish. Let’s get this one done in closer to 45 minutes!

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs – 4 cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4-5 celery stalks, diced
• 4 small carrots, diced
• 1 14.5oz can diced tomatos (the small can)
• 1 tbls red wine vinegar
• As much garlic as you want, rough chopped. I used 8 cloves
• 1 small sweet potato, diced (optional)
• 1 cup of your favorite pasta (optional)
• 2 32oz (2lb) containers chicken stock
• Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper

For the potato and pasta, dealer’s choice here. I used red lentil rontini for the pasta. If you can find it and don’t mind the cost, it was a perfect fit!

Let’s Do This

The object of this pot of soup is keeping it simple. To that end, do all of your veggie prep first (keep the onions and garlic separate). That way, you can use the same board and knife for the chicken prep and reduce the amount of time you have to spend cleaning.

Assuming your have everything prepped, do this

1. Put your soup pot on the stove and add about 1/4″ olive oil to bottom on high heat. Dutch oven works very well!
2. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chicken, reduce heat to medium. Keep this moving to avoid too much sticking.
3. Getting color on the bottom of pot? Add 1/2 your onions and all of your garlic. Keep it all moving.
4. Once the chicken is almost done and you have dark color on the bottom of the pot, add your tomatoes and reduce the heat. Scrape the bottom of pot to get that fond into your soup!
5. Add the veggies to the pot, boost the heat to high and cook for about 2 minutes, again, keeping everything moving.
6. Add your stock and bring the soup to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
8. Add your pasta and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
9. Season to taste.

No foolin’, I had this ready in 45 minutes, and that included the prep. Simple and so good. I do highly recommend using chicken thigh meat since it’s more forgiving for this method of cooking and a bit heartier.

Man, I love leftovers during the holday season. Especially if the weather is cold, as it has been here in Arizona. Today, we are dealing with leftover ham and making a hearty soup. Like everything else, super easy, super delicious and it makes quite bit.

Christmas Ham Soup

For this you will need the left over bits of ham, you know, the tough parts from the end that nobody likes on sandwhiches because they are too tough. They work perfect for this recipe, especially if they are both tough and have a bit of extra fat.

Ingredients

• Ham, the fattiest pieces, diced, about 2 cups
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 ribs of celery, diced
• 1 medium yellow or brown onion, diced
• 2 russet potatoes, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped fine
• 1/2 12oz bottle of brown beer
• 2 tbls olive oil
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp cumin
• Water to cover
• 1 tbls red wine or apple cider vinegar
• Salt & pepper to taste

Cooking

In your dutch oven or sturdiest soup pot, heat the olive oil on medium high heat until it’s hot. Add the ham pieces and saute for 2 minutes. Drop the heat to medium and continue to cook until most of the fat is rendered and the ham is nicely browned. This will take about 5-7 minutes.

Add the carrots, onion, celery and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the beer. scrape the bottom of the pan to get the brown ham bits and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and cover with water. Add the spices and garlic and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, reduce heat to low and let cook with the lid on for 45 minutes. Finish with parsley and vinegar.

Mods

• Add 1 can of black beans
• Add a corn starch slurry and let it cook for an additional 10 minutes to thicken
• Use white wine instead of beer and skip the vinegar. I would use a pinot gringo or something equally light, not a chardonnay.
• Use the entire beer!

If this turns out correctly, you should have an amazing ham flavor with a hint of cinnamon. I thought it turned out really nice, hearty enough to be a meal but not so heavy to be a stew.