Chicken, Black Bean, and Fennel Soup

I invented a soup!

Hubby’s parents bought into their community garden this summer, so we’ve been reaping the benefits of their growth (which is great since I’ve been neglecting my garden and it’s been responding in kind.)

Funnily, they planted all sorts of vegetables that they’d never eaten before, and they’ve been sharing these new culinary sensations with us too. The first was arugula–we’ve had arugula in nearly every salad we’ve eaten this summer, they planted that much of it. The second was fennel.

We’ve sprinkled the fennel fronds (I’ve learned that’s what the green fuzzy part is called) on salads and other foods, but what to do with the rest of it? I found a few fennel soup recipes online and decided to combine them with a homemade stock of my own.

The result was good! I think in order to be more fragrant, I’d use more than one fennel bulb if I had them, but otherwise it was a tasty soup that filled us up!

Chicken, Black Bean, and Fennel Soup
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Ingredients

  • 5-6 cups chicken stock (I made my own with a chicken carcass, an onion, a few garlic cloves, salt, and peppercorns)
  • 1-2 cups diced or shredded chicken (I just picked the bones clean after making the stock, cook some up or open a can if you aren’t using fresh stock)
  • 2 lbs black beans
  • Olive oil
  • 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 fennel bulb, diced (could do 2 or 3 to increase the fennel flavor)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • black pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 tsp rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp ground coriander

If necessary, make your stock. I put all my stock ingredients in the crockpot and let them simmer overnight. Boy, did the house smell good in the morning!

Soak your beans overnight too!
Rinse the beans and add them back to the pot with fresh water. Simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender. Then rinse them yet again.
When your beans are nearly done, add your chicken stock to a large soup pot along with the chicken and bring to a boil. Add the cooked beans. Reduce heat and simmer.
Place a drizzle of olive oil in a medium saucepan and saute the onions for 3-5 minutes. Add the fennel and garlic, and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until cooked down. Then add them all to the soup pot.

Add the salt, pepper, and spices, and then let it all simmer together to marry the flavors for about 15 minutes (you can substitute 1 tsp of tarragon for the rosemary and oregano if you would like to further enhance the flavor.)

Serve garnished with chopped fennel fronds and enjoy! We sure did!

Linking up at Allergy Free Wednesdays and Gluten Free Fridays

What are you doing for dinner this week?

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