Chicken Parm Soup

If nothing else, I am a man of tradition. My traditions are very important to me, and if I do something that is fun, I immediately call it the first annual, in hopes that we can re-create the magic next year. Thanksgiving is a big time for these traditions. This past year I participated in the 9th annual Thanksgiving Challenge, and while I am not going to get into the details of that event, I will brag a little and say that I was the champion. The other tradition I want to talk about is one with my family where we make tortellini on the day after Thanksgiving. The tortellini are made and frozen for our yearly Christmas Eve party. Because we have a lot of helpers come over, it is important to feed them! We make a new soup for lunch every year. If you are new to the site, check out the past years soups, and the detailed tortellini post and soup recipe, but today’s post is all about this chicken parm soup.

Pasta rolling in action! This is not for the soup, but for the tortellini. Note the magic loop technique. Skills!

The broth is just some sauteed onions and garlic with a few cans of chicken stock and diced tomatoes. I poached a few chicken breasts in here.

The diced chicken going back into the broth.

Almost done with the tortellini, its lunchtime!

Pasta is now in the broth as well.

Breadcrumbs, parm, mozzarella, and olive oil.

Broil the bread with the breadcrumbs on top, then again with some more mozzarella.

The idea is like the crouton on top of french onion soup, but without broil-able bowls.

Tasty!

And very reminiscent of chicken parm, which was the goal!

Saute onions and garlic in a large pan, add a few cans of diced tomatoes and chicken stock, some oregano and chile flakes. Poach a few chicken breasts in the broth and remove. Boil pasta in water and strain. Chop chicken. Add chicken and cooked pasta to soup and remove from heat. mix parm cheese and olive oil with breadcrumbs. top some bread rounds with the breadcrumb mixture and broil in the oven. Add mozzarella cheese to the top of the bread and broil some more. Top each bowl of soup with one of these breads.