Lemon-Florentine Chicken and Bean Soup

That one 'spatchcocked' chicken has produced so many recipes!  Even after this, there's a quarter of the chicken - a breast-wing section - frozen for a future recipe!

I made chicken-vegetable broth using a big bag of vegetable scraps, chicken skin and bones from this chicken.  You combine all this with 4-6 cups of fresh cold water, simmer it all for a couple hours.


Remove all the solids, then chill what's left.  The next day, scrape off the fat that's risen to the top of what's now a big pot of jelled chicken broth.  Heat this, then strain through several, progressively smaller meshed, strainers.  Refrigerate again until you're ready to use it.

¾c dry cow peas

2c chopped carrots

7 lg. garlic cloves

2c celery and tops

1 long sweet pepper

1 yellow onion

½c dry white wine

⅔ large lemon - juiced*

1-2T butter

½t good quality garlic salt

½t fresh ground black pepper

2T Better Than Bouillon

10oz. chopped cooked chicken

6oz. sliced-chopped raw spinach

This was going to be a chicken-wild rice soup.  Then I saw the cow peas! 😍 They're beautiful small beans, like tiny black-eyed peas.  I decided they would be a good choice for a 'grain-starch' addition to this soup today.  They scent the whole house so beautifully as they cook!  Sort them to be sure there are no tiny stones mixed in with the beans.  Rinse, then cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil then shut off.  Let stand a half hour, drain and start the procedure over.  Do this 2-3 times until the beans are just tender, then set them aside.

Chop, dice, mince or slice the next ingredient group, then saute' them all in the wine and butter in a 5 quart pot.  When the onion is translucent, add the beans, all the strained chicken stock, lemon juice and simmer on low for an hour.  *The whole lemon slices, shown, made it bitter, which I counteracted with a couple teaspoons of sugar.  It would be a better idea to juice the lemon, and throw away the peel.

Add the chicken, sliced spinach, and continue to simmer another 15 minutes.  It's ready!  "Soup's On - Come 'n Get It!!"  😋

Have you ever felt really bad, like when a cold or the flu is trying to take hold... Then you made something to eat or drink that felt as though it may have pulled you back from The Brink Of Death?  That's how I felt today, and this soup's doing it for me!  Happy Sunday everyone!  Stay Healthy!  Be Bold - Happy Cooking! . . . Lin