Italian Chicken Soup with White Beans, Escarole and Ditalini

Homemade Soup warms the soul? In our house it's not often enough, living in Florida, it's a pleasant change of pace. I love hearty soups, here is one we love it's very filling, add some grating cheese and it's the perfect meal on a cold evening! Hope you like it too!





Chicken legs, Escarole, Ditalini pasta, fresh Romano cheese make this a whole meal



Fresh Fennel

Escarole

6 to 8 Chicken Drumsticks
1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel
1 head of escarole  boiled , cleaned and drained ( cut end of stalk off, wash boil and chopped)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 celery stalk chopped
1 4 oz can of tomato sauce
1 32 oz size can of chicken broth low sodium no fat
2 cans or 2 cups of fresh white beans either cannelini or great northern rinsed
1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, oregano and basil
3 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
salt  and pepper to taste
In a large saucepan fill with water, boil chicken legs and escarole together, till chicken is almost cooked and escarole is tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. (I don't use these to make the chicken broth, as I used skinless legs, and preboil so not to get all the scum in the soup) Of course it will continue cooking the legs in the soup. The canned chicken broth makes a richer broth when combining the legs with skin on them. Either way work well, I just like to make my seperate for clearer soup.
In a clean saucepan add the  canned chicken broth, herbs, cooked chicken legs left whole, escarole, celery, carrots,  sliced fennel, small can of sauce and beans. Cook  vegetables until they are soft, around an hour.
In a small pan of water boil 2/3 cup of ditalini, or other pasta of choice for around 10 minutes. Drain and add to soup. You can take the chicken off the bone and put that back into the pot or serve the legs whole. Top with grated Romano cheese.


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