Carrabba's Spicy Sicillian Chicken Soup

By jamiej

I tried three of the available recipes for this Carrabba's chicken soup dish - usually called "Mamma Mandola's Sicillian Chicken Soup" - and was not quite getting the results I wanted.

I'm NOT a cook, and live literally thousands of miles away from the nearest Carrabba's restaurant, so I had to improvise a little on the three recipes I found. I am quite happy with the results, though, and it's the closest I've made to this recipe.

It is also a big batch, but I figured if I was spending an afternoon making soup, I should have some to freeze.

Note: I do not have a local grocery store, so had to substitute some ingredients that you many not have to....but it worked for me. ;-)

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 3 medium sweet onions
• 2 1/2 medium green peppers
• 10 hearts celery (I estimated 8 whole stalks, but only had hearts)
• 8 -10 medium carrots (6 large would be enough)
• 8 medium sized potatoes (maybe just 4-5 larger Idaho baking potatoes?)
• 10 -12 garlic cloves
• 4 quarts chicken stock (2 from boxed broth, 2 from concentrate)
• 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 (28 ounce) cans tomatoes, 28 oz can and (I used "Generic" Safeway Diced Petite, (1, 1)
• 1 cup of chopped parsley
• white pepper (2 tablespoons total?)
• black pepper (1.5 or 2 tablespoons?)
• salt (1.5 tablespoon?, and then salted to taste at end)
• 2 lbs ditalini, as needed when serving (or stubby pasta of choice)

Preparation

Step 1

Directions:

1 In a large stockpot:. heat olive oil under fairly low to medium heat.

2 "Sweat" onion, celery, green pepper and some salt (to draw off moisture) for perhaps 30 minutes -- this is lower than browning, and makes the veggies somewhat translucent. I covered, and mixed every few minutes to prevent browning.

3 Add carrots, garlic, some white pepper and some black pepper, and continue to heat under "sweat" conditions while mixing now and then.

4 Add chicken stock, chicken breasts, tomatoes and potatoes -- and of course some more white pepper and black pepper.

5 Cover and simmer on low heat for 1.5 to 2 hours (or use crock pot?).

6 Remove chicken and let cool and stand to shred.

7 Add chopped parsley and return the shredded chicken to the soup.

8 Salt to taste at this point, and add more white and black pepper if your tongue is not twitching a bit when you sample. ;-).

9 Simmer while cooking ditalini (or other stubby pasta).

10 Serve soup over cooked pasta to taste.

11 Note: Like many soups, this may be better made the day before and then served when needed. We will freeze some for ready-made meals and I think it will work out well.