Lemony Chicken & Orzo Soup with Pita Wedges and Hummus

MONDAY

Lemony Chicken & Orzo Soup  |  Pita Wedges  |  Ethereally Smooth Hummus

This evening’s dinner was easy…really easy {even with me peeling chickpeas for the hummus..yes, yes..I will get back to that}!  Thank the heavens above, after all, it is Monday!!

When I planned this dinner last week, I knew that I would need to be out all day today running errands for our trip this week.  Accordingly, I made the most of left-overs from last night’s dinner into a re-invented {read NOT THE SAME THING AGAIN!} meal for tonight.  When I came across this soup in the April, 2013 edition of Bon Appetit, I knew it was a perfect Monday dinner to follow a Sunday roast chicken dinner.  Well, the soup was a winner!  The added trick was that I prepared the chicken stock yesterday {with an extra bird, simmering in a stock pot} while I was preparing our Sunday Herb-Butter Roasted Chicken dinner.  Tonight, all I needed to do was {i} wash and chop some celery & a leek, {ii} boil stock and {iii} add left-over chicken.  Today turned into a mostly gray day and it got progressively cooler throughout the day {NOTE:  I am NOT using the word COLD here in honor of my East Coast friends}, so this soup was a welcome treat in front of a fire this evening…

Lemony Chicken & Orzo Soup {adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2013}

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large leek, white and pale-green parts only, halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick
  • 2 celery stalks, sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick
  • 16 ounces left-over roasted chicken meat {breasts & thighs} cut into bite-sized pieces & allowed to come to room temperature
  • 12 cups homemade chicken broth
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup Orzo pasta
  • Chopped fresh dill for garnish
  • Parmesan shavings for garnish
  • Lemon halves (for serving)
  1. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add leek and celery and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, 5-8 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Add broth & bring to a boil.
  2. Add orzo and cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes.
  3. Remove pot from heat. Stir in chicken meat and dill. Serve with parmesan shavings & lemon halves for squeezing over.

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Next…the hummus!  Such an easy & wonderful recipe from Deb at the Smitten Kitchen!!  I really didn’t do anything different to Deb’s recipe {just used canned chickpeas, yes…GASP!…instead of cooking my own ~ next time, REALLY!} so in due honor of copyright laws click here for the recipe.  BTW…peeling the chickpeas wasn’t the nightmare I prepared myself for…I know YOU can do it!  Skins removed from those little devils REALLY makes a difference in the texture of the final hummus.

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Finally, the Toasted Pita Wedges {slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen}…

  • 4 small pitas, cut into 4 wedges each {16 wedges in total}
  • Olive oil, to brush pita wedges
  • Sea Salt & freshly ground black pepper for sprinkling
  1. Spread pita wedges on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and brush lightly with olive oil.
  2. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and toast in oven until brown at edges, about 8 minutes.  Serve with soup & a dollop of hummus…

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Our dinner plate this evening…

Before I go {for an unbelievably long 5 days!} I want to answer a question that has repeatedly {over 250 times} hit my mailbox recently with all this talk of horse shows…”What kind of horse riding do your girls perform?”  Simple answer is 3-Day Eventing but most people don’t know what that is.  I am commonly asked “jumping or dressage ?” and my answer is…yes.  You see, three-day eventing is both & then some.  Three-day riders compete in three individual phases consisting of Dressage, Stadium Jumping and…the Holy GrailCross Country.  Pictures {and better yet, videos} speak a thousand words so let me leave you with these glimpses of last season…

Phase I:  Dressage ~  Click here to view Madison’s dressage.

Phase II:  Stadium Jumping ~ Click here to view Madison’s stadium.

And now, the FAVORITE…

Phase III:  Cross-Country ~  Click here to view Madison’s cross-country.

I really hope you take a moment to watch the videos above…they are so entertaining!

The girls and I will leave home at 2am Wednesday morning to begin our 11-hour journey South to Temecula, California.  We will travel the CA I-5, climb & descend the Grapevine {hopefully no snow}, maneuver the CA-210 & the CA-15 {through Pasadena & next to LA} with over 2,000 pounds of  beloved horses behind us!  Three girls, two horses, a huge diesel truck & a trailer…could be a sit-com one day.  But for now, it is real life!

My last thought {I promise} and wish is for safe travels for all of the riders & horses traveling to SoCal for the Galway Event this weekend!  See you all in a couple of days…

As for the wonderful followers of this little blog…I will post, remotely, next week’s menu on Friday as usual.  In the meantime, visit my Instagram site {click on the Instagram icon on the right-hand side of this page, under “Keep In Touch”} for the latest news & pics from the Galway Downs Horse show…should be a lot of fun & action this weekend!

 

Best to All!

K Initial

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