Green Chicken Minestrone with Gremolata
Make the most of in season zucchini with this green minestrone. This recipe uses a whole chicken to make the broth base, which then gets shredded and added to the minestrone. Featuring hints of fennel and a burst of zesty citrus from the lemon, adding the gremolata at the end ties it all together with a deliciously herbaceous and garlicky undertone.
Green Chicken Minestrone with Gremolata
Serves four, with leftovers
Ingredients
For the minestrone
3 tbsp EVOO
10 black peppercorns
2 star anise
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 large brown onion, halved
3 bay leaves
2 sprigs of rosemary
Whole chicken, roughly 1.8-2kg
1 large or 2 medium zucchini, finely diced
300g frozen garden peas
1x 400g can of cannellini beans
250g ditalini, or any other small soup pasta
For the gremolata
1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Zest of half a lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
EVOO
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano to serve
Method
For the minestrone
Heat olive oil in a large, deep saucepan (big enough for the chicken), and throw in the peppercorns, star anise and fennel seeds. Fry gently until fragrant, then add the celery, carrot and onion.
Squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon and throw it in with the veggies. Saute everything for a few minutes before adding the bay leaves, rosemary, the whole chicken and a generous pinch or two of salt.
Cover everything with water until the chicken is just covered, slowly bring up to a boil then reduce to the lowest possible flame and allow the broth to bubble away over 2-3 hours.
Remove the chicken from the broth and shred the meat from the bone when it’s cool enough to handle - discarding the skin.
Strain the liquid into another saucepan, squeezing as much out of the veggies to get all of that flavour into the broth - check the broth for seasoning and add salt to taste.
Put the broth back on the stove and add in the diced zucchini, peas, cannellini beans and ditalini. Cook for a minute less than the pasta packet instructions. Stir through the shredded chicken then turn the heat off and let the minestrone sit for 10 minutes before serving.
For the gremolata
While the minestrone is resting, make the gremolata by combining the chopped parsley, lemon zest, minced garlic and enough olive oil to bind into a dressing.
Divide the minestrone between bowls. Serve with dollops of the gremolata and grated Parmigiano.