Spring Vegetable Soup with Tarragon (and chicken)

So, you can find the recipe for this in Saturday's post.  I don't have any "as we go" pictures because I think I was being lazy.

I think for this soup, I spent more time chopping and cleaning things than I did paying attention to the soup itself.  I used the recipe as a guideline.  I figured that if I added more veggies to it, it wouldn't hurt.

I had never used leeks before this recipe, but I had seen other people talk about how dirty they were on the many food shows I watch in the background during the day.  They weren't lying.  I'm glad I saved them for last because my cutting board was dirty after I was done.

So, just in case you didn't feel like bouncing back and forth between the previous entry and this one, here is the list of veggies for the soup:

10 small red potatoes, quartered
2 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 celery ribs, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 large leek, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 pound green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths, or frozen peas

I think I used 8 red potatoes (because they were a little bigger than I thought), 4 carrots, 4 ribs of celery, and 2 leeks.   The green beans and onion were about right though.

After cutting everything up, I cleaned the leeks.  To do this, chop them however you need to for the recipe, fill a bowl with cold water and put all the copped leeks into the water.  Swish the leeks around to break the pieces apart, then let them sit for a few minutes.  The leeks float on the surface of the water while all the dirt sinks to the bottom.  I was amazed at exactly how much there was.

While the leeks were sitting in the water, I did my first addition.  I took a large, thawed chicken breast and seared it on both sides in a little garlic infused olive oil (making a nice brown flavor coating on the bottom of my dutch oven).  I removed the chicken breast, reduced the heat on the stove and sauteed the onion, carrots and celery until slightly softened.  I added the potatoes, salt, water, and leeks into the pot, then added the chicken breast back in.  I added the tarragon at this point.  The recipe sounds like it called for fresh tarragon, but I had dried stuff.  When you're cooking things in a slow cooker, or for longer periods of time, you want to add dried herbs at the beginning so they have time to develop.  If you're using fresh herbs, add them at the end.  If you cook the fresh herbs from the beginning, they won't be as potent and you'll lose some of the flavor.

I let all this cook at a simmer for about 30-40 minutes.  At that point, I pulled out the chicken breast and added the chopped, fresh green beans to let them cook while I shredded the chicken.  After 3-5 minutes, I added the shredded chicken back in, peppered to taste and added some more tarragon, and it was ready to serve.

My husband and I each had 2 bowls and we still had enough left over for 4 more servings.

I was amazed at how much flavor came out of the veggies and how dark the broth was.  The added chicken breast was just the right amount so that my husband didn't complain about there being no meat for dinner.  (I made another soup last night that had no meat in it and he just had to suffer.)

Anyway.  Try it .. you'll like it.

Thanks and happy eating!