Bread is from NYT Cooking "No Knead Bread"

Lemon chicken orzo soup ingredients

• 1lb chicken thighs cut into small chunks
• Kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 celery ribs, diced
• 3 sprigs of thyme, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• ~6 cups of chicken stock*
• 1 cup dried orzo
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• Parsley for finishing

Instructions for soup

1. Heat a couple tbsps of oil in a large pot. Season the chicken with a fat pinch of kosher salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook the chicken until it starts to brown. Set aside the chicken
2. Sauté the onions, carrots, and celery. Give them a pinch of salt and cook until softened. Stir in the fresh chopped thyme and garlic and cook until fragrant. About 30-60 seconds
3. Add the chicken stock and bay leaf. Let mixture come to a boil. Add the orzo** and chicken back to the pot. Let cook until orzo is cooked, about 10-15 mins.
4. At the end, add the zest & lemon juice. Sprinkle parsley. Taste for s + p

*Chicken stock. I made my own stock from last night's spatchcock chicken. All of the bones, 1 celery rib, 1 carrot, 1 head of garlic, 1 onion, random herbs that only had a few days left in my fridge. I let it come to a boil and then drop temperature so it's a simmer. I'll top with water 2-3 times and let it simmer for about 5-8 hours. Until it's golden brown and smells like soup! I didn't measure the amount of stock, I'm guessing it's about 6 cups. Might be 7. If using store bought stock, just sub in water w/ bouillon.

**Orzo. Some recipes that I read suggest cooking the orzo on the side so leftovers/the orzo don't get soggy. I knew that I would only have 1-2 servings leftovers so I didn't bother. Have you ever had chicken noodle soup w/ egg noodles left in the soup and the next day they were a soggy mushy mess? That's not what I experienced with the orzo. Here's a 24 hour pic later. Orzo def expanded and soaked up a lot of the soup, but not mushy.

If you have a lot of mouths to feed, I would cook the orzo in the soup. If the soup is going to feed you for 3-4+ days, probably cook the orzo on the side.