Soup for the Storm

Good morning from New England, we are officially snowed in. Our Man Cub is still sleeping, as the cleverest of clever teenagers do, and Will Dearest is standing at the window, staring with his mouth hanging open at the mess going on outside. I have plans to turn a biga into bread and some crafty business to work on. Also, I’m thinking about making poached fish and zucchini fritters for dinner*.

If anyone is hungry before that, they can totally break into the leftover soup from the other night.  Yes, soup! Delicious, delicious soup! Let me share it with you.

This soup is the brainchild of leftovers – but not quite enough leftovers to make a meal. And the love affair I’m newly beginning with chard.** It turned out surprisingly great for a pot of soup that had no recipe (It now has a recipe because about five minutes into dinner, Dearest Will implored me to write down what I had done so we can eat this again. And so you, dear reader, benefit – so much win!)

Something Like Italian Wedding Soup, Only Really Not – serves 4-6

3 qt chicken stock
2c cooked brown rice
3-4 leaves of fresh basil
1# tiny chicken meatballs (see below)
juice of 2-3 lemons
4 stalks swiss chard, leaves ribboned and stalks diced
~1c leftover cooked chicken (cut small)

Tiny Meatballs
1# ground chicken
1 good handful basil leaves (~1/3c chopped)
sprinkle of kosher salt
pepper to taste