Rainy Day Soup

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By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

The spring rains have begun as well as some amazing thunder clappers. This past week delivered not only tons of rain and high winds but lots of buds and flowering bushes and green grass. This is my favorite time of year (fall is a close second).

Today is a day of gardening and digging out of last year's twigs and fall leaves that found there way into my garden to form a protective blanket until spring really arrived. So maybe it's a tad early, as I know that up here in the Hudson Valley, they say, do not plant or uncover until frost is really a distant memory, which locals say is around May 15.

This chicken soup which resembles a pot pie, is really a recipe to bridge the gap between winter and spring's chilly beginnings. This is the perfect remedy to reward yourself after a long day of raking and tidying up the garden.

Feel free to substitute with whatever veggies are kicking around in your fridge and do add any of the herbs such as chives that seem to springing up in the garden at this time of year.

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Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Serves 4

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 small carrot, sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup frozen peas
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 store-bought sheet pie dough
All-purpose flour

1. Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, 3 minutes or until onions are golden brown. Add mushrooms, carrots, celery, bay leaf, and thyme. Cook until carrots are crisp tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in broth, chicken and peas and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste and discard bay leaf.
2. Preheat oven to 450F. Roll out pastry dough to 1/8-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut into circles just large enough to cover four 1 cup ramekins. Ladle soup into ramekins and top with Pasty rounds pressing them into the edges to adhere to sides of dish. Soup can be made ahead by 1 day at this point and kept chilled wrapped in plastic wrap.
3. Bake in middle of oven, until bubbling and pastry is golden brown, for 8 to 10 minutes.

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