Cook with us Week #27 - Muscadel Chicken & Mushroom Soup

Nothing like coming home after a long day on a cold winter's night to the smell of Mom's soup wafting from the kitchen.

Mom Lily used to make the most delicious chunky Red Lentil & Split Pea soup filled with whatever vegetables were growing in the garden. Usually this would be accompanied by warm homemade Cheese Scones, a treat all on its own :)

This meal was nourishing and economical with not just four, but five small mouths to feed; yes the last one was not planned, but like Mom always says, my baby brother was the best mistake she ever made ;)

After a gorgeous start to Spring with warm sunny weather and the garden coming to life again, we suddenly experienced icy cold weather. Yes, the weather report came through that there had been some snowfalls on the higher peaks of the central Drakensberg, just over two hours drive from us. Of course when that happens, we know all about being cold again! Murphy's law, I put my electric blanket in storage just last week!

The theme for Week #27 of @cookwithus contest is Soup, and was very well received by my family, papa Bear and granny Bear aka Mom Lily!

Thank you to the team @chefsteve, @offoodandart and @pandamama for the hard work behind the scenes, and a huge thank you to our generous sponsors as well! Love this community of cooks and food lovers!

I first heard of Chicken Marsala from an American guest at our BnB a couple of months ago, an Italian-American dish made with sweet Marsala, a fortified wine.
Of course I went to granny Google for a look-see and found an awesome recipe on the food blog Gimme Some Oven for a Chicken Marsala Soup.
We mostly serve breakfasts, but this looked absolutely delicious so I spoilt our guest with dinner on her last night, but tweaked the soup recipe here and there. We enjoyed it so much that I immediately thought of that when I started thinking of what to serve all my #cookwithus friends.

My Muscadel Chicken & Mushroom Soup is chunky and fragrant - juicy Lemon and Thyme Chicken fillets, Muscadel wine, small Shell Pasta shapes, Portobello and White Button Mushrooms, Spring Onions, Spinach, Wheat Grass, Carrots and Coconut Cream all came together in a symphony of flavours, absolutely delicious and comforting soul food!

I could not find any Marsala Wine, so used a South African fortified sweet dessert wine, a white Muscadel, made from the Muscadel grape, truly a part of our wine heritage.

MUSCADEL CHICKEN & MUSHROOM SOUP

• 400 gram Chicken fillets
• 1 Lemon
• a few sprigs fresh Thyme
• 100 gram Butter
• Olive Oil
• 400 gram Portobello or White Mushrooms
• 1 small Onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, cubed
• 4 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tablespoons Flour
• 200 ml Muscadel wine
• 2 litres Chicken Stock
• 200 gram Pasta shapes
• Spinach leaves, diced
• Spring Onions, diced
• Wheat Grass, finely shredded with scissors - reserve some for garnishing
• 1 can Coconut Cream
• Parmesan cheese

Method
1. Marinade Chicken fillets in Thyme and juice of half a Lemon, plus Lemon slices or chunks
2. Sautée on high heat in Butter & Olive Oil, remove from pan, let it rest and shred into smaller pieces
3. Sautée Mushrooms, adding extra Butter & Olive Oil if required, remove and keep aside
4. Sautée Onions, Garlic & Carrots
5. Add Flour and cook about a minute
6. Add half the wine, stirring, then add remaining wine plus the Chicken stock
7. Add Pasta & Thyme and cook for about 10 minutes whilst stirring now & then
8. Add Chicken, Spring Onions and Spinach
9. Lastly add Coconut Cream plus juice of half a Lemon, stir and check seasoning

Parmesan Toasties

• Honey & Oats bread
• Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
  Method
• Lightly toast bread, cut out shapes with cookie cutter
• Place grated Cheese on top & pop under grill till browned
• Garnish soup with finely grated Parmesan & Wheat Grass, pop toastie on top

Sit back and enjoy, I guarantee everyone will want seconds :)

Hope we get to enjoy your Soup here on @cookwithus!

A quick look at the cooking process

Original Content by @lizelle
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