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Chicken Lemongrass Chard Soup

I got my inspiration from the Chard that I picked in the garden today – smack dab in the middle of winter, and starting to drip freezing rain.  I knew I had to pick it before it was frozen again and it had to be used quickly. I used barley in the soup, though you could use rice, or bulgur or substitute any grain you’d like.  I loved the barley, but my braces wearing son says that the barley is the perfect size to get stuck. If you teen wears braces, definitely use a different grain.  The broth was really great.  I wasn’t sure if tomatoes and lemon grass went together, but it was a fantastic combination.  I added ginger because I love lemongrass and ginger together .  The lemongrass was from my summer garden, that I froze for later use; I’m very happy when I can use ingredients from my garden. It makes it more mine.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 cup barley –dried
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 small onion diced
• Chard ( I used this much, but you can put in more) torn
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• ginger – about a tbs
• lemon grass – about 3 stalks
• pepper

Directions:

Fry chicken breast in a tbs of olive oil.  Place 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth in a medium pot and heat until boiling.  Add in barley and turn down to a simmer until done.  Then set aside. In a large pot, put in a cup of chicken broth and heat up.  Throw in the onion and simmer, when the onion is soft, throw in a can of diced tomatoes, and chard.  Dice chicken.  When the chard is wilty, throw in the chicken, the rest of the chicken broth and add a little parsley.  Grate in ginger and lemon grass.  Add in fresh ground pepper.  Bring to proper soup temperature before serving. There was salt in the tomato and in the broth, so I didn’t add any in.   Taste and decide.

Place barley in bowl, and ladle soup over it.

I thought the tomatoes would overpower the lemongrass, but once you get the right amount of lemongrass in it doesn’t.  This was such a good soup that my husband finished off the pot, really. 

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