Zuppa del Nora ...(Frank's Chicken Vegetable Soup)

	The plan was to whip up a big pot of chicken vegetable soup from scratch. But before I could fire up the burners, my assistant Nora Dejoie already had the groceries collected, the produce chopped, and the broth simmering! And what she had concocted tasted so good, we forgot all about doing the original recipe!
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 1 large onion, coarsely diced 3 ribs celery, coarsely diced 4 cloves fresh garlic 6 chicken breasts, skinned and diced 6 cans chicken broth ½ lb. carrots, chunked ½ lb. mushrooms, sliced 6 green onions, coarsely sliced 2 large red potatoes, thick diced ½ small head cabbage, shredded small zucchini, diced 1 small yellow squash, diced 2 small tomatoes, peeled and diced ¾ cup whole kernel corn 1 cup fresh spinach leaves, washed 1 cup broccoli florets ¾ cup diced turnips ¼ cup cocktail sherry ½ tsp. sweet basil 1 tsp. Frank Davis Poultry Seasoning ½ cup piquante sauce ½ tsp. red pepper flakes 1 tsp. black pepper 3½ tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. soy sauce 2 cups orzo pasta, precooked ½ lb. shredded Parmesan cheese 1 bunch Italian parsley for garnish 1 sleeve saltine crackers
Instructions:
First, take a large stockpot (a 10-quart is a good size), heat up the olive oil, and sauté the onion, celery, garlic and chicken until the mixture slightly browns and thoroughly softens. What you’re really doing is sealing the juices in the chicken and caramelizing the vegetables, both of which sweeten up in the process. Then after about 4 minutes of cooking, begin adding the next fourteen ingredients, one at a time, stirring after each addition. At this point, bring the soup base to a gentle boil, put the lid on the pot, and let the mixture cook for about a half hour so that the flavors will meld together. Then season the soup with the remaining ingredients—the basil, the poultry blend, the piquante sauce, the red pepper flakes, the black pepper, the salt, and the soy sauce. It’s not included in the overall list of ingredients, but a teaspoon or so of Kitchen Bouquet can add a splash of base color to the soup. Now you should make a note here that for a really good pot of soup, you should plan to let it simmer over low heat—covered—for about two hours. Oh sure, it’s going to be ready in about an hour; but I suggest you ho ahead and give it that extra time to fully develop into the richness that can only come from slowly simmering vegetables! Then just about 5 minutes before you’re ready to eat, stir in the orzo. It’ll take about 5 minutes to fully "puff" and absorb some of the flavors. All that’s left to do then is to ladle out the soup—piping hot—in high-sided bowls, shred on a little fresh Parmesan cheese, sprinkle with a touch of minced parsley for garnish, and serve with a stack of buttered saltines. This is such comforting food, you won’t care how cold the weather gets!
Chef's Notes:
1.Oh, you can hurry up and throw this recipe together by dropping everything in the pot all at once. . . but the quality difference when you take your time and slowly simmer it is just indescribable! 2.Be careful not to dice the chicken too small. If you do, it will fall apart and virtually disintegrate as it cooks. 3.Orzo is a rice-shaped pasta that lends itself beautifully to adding texture to chunky-style soups. 4.Any combination of vegetables can be used when making vegetable soup—you don’t have to limit yourself just to those spelled out in this ingredient list. The only caution you want to take is to eliminate the strong, dominant, or bitter vegetables, such as cauliflower, endive, Brussels sprouts, etc. They totally take over the flavor of the soup. 5.Finally, if you plan to put fresh spinach into your vegetable soup (which is delicious), be sure you wash the leave thoroughly under cold running water to get rid of any accumulated dirt and sand. Gritty veggie soup is not in demand!