Stracciatella II

Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 90 min
Servings: 12
Yield: 12 servings

Description

Chicken soup from scratch is enhanced with spinach, Romano, rice and egg in this surprisingly easy soup.

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) whole chicken
3 quarts water
11 carrots
6 stalks celery
2 onions
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
6 ounces baby spinach, chopped
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

1 Cut up chicken into large pieces and place in a large soup pot with the water. Chop 8 carrots, 3 stalks of celery and 1 onion and place them in the pot as well. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes, until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and reserve stock. When cool enough to handle, bone chicken and cut meat into bite-size pieces.
2 Process reserved stock in a blender or food processor or using an immersion blender and return it to the pot with the chicken meat. Chop the remaining 3 carrots, 3 stalks of celery and 1 onion and stir into the chicken mixture with the rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
3 Remove chicken mixture from heat and stir in spinach, Romano, salt, pepper, lemon juice and oregano. Set aside.
4 In large saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil. Pour the eggs into the boiling broth, slowly, in a thin stream. Remove the broth from the heat and stir it into the chicken mixture. Serve hot.