1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh, chopped (optional; original soup is vegetarian with no chicken)
1 8 oz can broth (vegetable or chicken)
1 28 oz can of whole, peeled plum tomatoes, drained and chopped; NOTE: reserve tomato sauce from the can
½ cup of reserved tomato sauce
¾ cup cut fideo noodles (original recipe calls for acini di pepe)
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (original recipe calls for fresh rosemary)
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 packet vegetable broth concentrate from Trader Joe's (optional)
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Instructions
) Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, add rough chopped garlic clove and rosemary. Don't burn the garlic and rosemary - I almost burnt mine. Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes until it's cooked on the outside. (The soup would taste good without the addition of chicken but I added a thigh since it was leftover.) The original recipe called for fresh rosemary tied in a little bunch so that it could easily be fished out of the pot, but since I didn't have any on hand, I used dried rosemary. The only problem with using dried rosemary is that you sometimes get a bite of a thick and crunchy rosemary needle.
) Drain garbanzo beans. In a small bowl puree half the beans using a hand blender. Add whole and pureed garbanzo beans to the soup pot. Add tomatoes and sauce. Add cut fideo noodles. I happened to have fideo noodles for another family favorite dish (to be posted?!?) and thought this smaller pasta would be better than large fusili pasta which is the only other thing I had in our pantry. Cook for 10 minutes until pasta is soft and chicken is cooked through.
) If the soup is too thick for your taste, add tomato sauce and can of broth to thin the soup. Salt and pepper to taste.
I threw in a packet of my favorite Trader Joe's vegetable broth concentrate for added flavor.
At this point, you should only simmer the soup for a few minutes if you want a more "soup-like" consistency. If you're like me and forget about the soup on the stove, you'll find yourself happy to find a thick, tomato stew.
Notes
Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com
Recipe by Bebe Love Okazu at https://bebeloveokazu.com/2011/04/12/garbanzo-bean-soup/