Ingredients:

group #1
2 medium turnips, diced
2 carrots, cut into coins
2 parsnips, cut into coins
2 stalks celery (with greens), diced
2 cups pearl onions
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon (dried) Valencia orange peel
2 bay leaves
salt
freshly ground pepper

group #2
3 cups diced, cooked chicken breast
1 cup farro
4 cups chicken stock
.25 oz porcini mushrooms, re-hydrated in 1 cup water, liquid reserved.

Directions:
Place the ingredients from group #1 in a 4 quart slow cooker. Stir. Cook for 6-8 hrs on low.

About 40 minutes before you would like to serve the soup, add the chicken, re-hydrated mushrooms (chop the mushrooms if needed) and the mushroom liquid.

Meanwhile, bring 4 cups stock and farro to boil in medium saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes. Drain or add the liquid leftover to the soup. Stir the farro into the soup. Serve immediately.

My thoughts:

I think what I like the most about soup is that it is a great way to use up a bunch of ingredients without a lot of effort. I always end up with small amounts of ingredients from other recipe creations and I hate throwing them out but some times there just isn’t enough of them make much of anything. Luckily with most soups, you don’t need too much of any one ingredient to make a delicious soup.

I roasted a chicken yesterday and ended up with a ton of leftover meat. I also had a lot of odds and ends of vegetables that I figured I could use up. I also wanted to try the new Valencia orange peel I bought (McCormick).

I have a big bag of farro leftover from when I was writing my most recent cookbook that I thought might be a good addition to the soup. I’d never had farro in soup before but I like farro so it was worth a shot. Luckily it worked well! It had a lovely chewy texture and while it made the soup more filling that I think it would have been otherwise, it didn’t make the soup seem “heavy”.

Note: I made this in the slow cooker but you could make it on the stove top, just saute the vegetables until softened then add the chicken, stock and cooked farro. It is just slightly easier to make in the slow cooker and makes your house smell great all day.