Chicken Noodles Soup With Walnut Pesto

Cook chicken with mushrooms and then add in noodles, cream and walnut pesto for a sumptuous soup.

Ingredients

For the soup:

• ½ kg boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 200 gm mushrooms, sliced, Portobello preferable
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp dried thyme or a few strands fresh thyme

Ingredients, continued

• 1 tsp onion powder or 1 small onion, ground
• 1 tsp garlic powder or 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 cup cream
• 200 gm pasta, tagliatelle or wide noodles preferable, else spiral (fusilli)
• 2 tbsp grated cheese, preferably Parmesan

Ingredients, continued

For the walnut pesto:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1½ cups chopped spinach
• ½ cup grated cheese, preferably Parmesan
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp salt

Method

For the walnut pesto:

• In a blender, add the walnuts, spinach, salt, Parmesan, olive oil.
  Blend until smooth, adding water as needed until you achieve a smooth consistency.
• Keep aside.

Method, continued 

For the soup:

• Add the chicken, mushrooms, broth, thyme, onion, garlic into a pressure cooker.
  Cover and cook over low heat for 7-8 whistles.
• Take out the fully-cooked chicken from cooker and shred.
  Return to the cooker.

Method, continued

• Stir in the noodles.
  Cover and cook over high heat for 10-15 minutes until noodles are tender.
  Now add in the cream and 3-4 tbsp of the pesto.
• Stir and serve hot with a side of bread; Serves: 3-4

Liquid broth is available in some gourmet food stores.
Or substitute the chicken broth by combining 2 chicken soup cube or 2 chicken broth/bouillon cube or 2 tsp chicken broth/bouillon powder with 4 cups boiling water.
Meat lovers might like to add 1 whole chicken along with the vegetables and spices while making the broth.

Recipe: Kind courtesy California Walnuts

Tips
Skip the chicken and use vegetable stock, the soup will be just as tasty for vegetarians.
Add a few more sliced vegetables if you prefer and chopped parsley while serving.
Make vegetable broth by boiling 4-5 cups water with 1-2 large roughly chopped carrots, 3 stalks roughly chopped celery with leaves, 2 medium onions chopped in chunks, 5-6 whole black peppercorns, 2 tsp salt, 4 tbsp chopped parsley with stems, 2 lavang or cloves, 5 pods garlic, 2 tej patta or bay leaves till vegetables are tender and the water is steeped with the flavour of the vegetables and spices.
Strain and use 4 cups for the recipe.