Lemony Orzo Chicken Soup -- The Table That Follows You Home

The world has changed in one week in a way that is disorienting and familiar at the same time. Disorienting because the mechanisms of daily life—church, school, restaurants, gathering places—have been suspended or closed, and familiar because suspension and hardship are not new to me. I was born in Bessemer, Alabama, in 1969. I have lived through economic decline and structural racism and the death of a child and the slow loss of two parents to age and disease, and I know how to be present in a world that is not working as expected. You stay home. You cook. You feed the people in your immediate circle with whatever you have. You check on your neighbors. You wait.

New Hope AME closed its doors for in-person services this week, following the governor's recommendation. Calvin preached on Facebook Live—Facebook Live, Calvin Simms, who learned to use a smartphone two years ago and who required three sessions with CJ to understand the concept of cloud storage—and the congregation watched on their phones and their laptops and their tablets, and Calvin's voice found them through a screen the same way it finds them through a microphone in the sanctuary. The Word travels. It always has. The medium changes. The Word doesn't.

Bernice's Table did not happen Tuesday. The church is closed for gatherings and the fellowship hall is closed and the fifty people who come every week do not have a place to come. This is the thing that is breaking my heart this week—not the inconvenience to me, not the disruption to my schedule, but the fifty people who came for food and found the door closed. They are still hungry. The door being closed doesn't change their hunger. I am figuring out alternatives: bag meals, maybe, dropped at the church door. Coordinating with the Birmingham Food Bank. Something. The table has to keep being a table even when the chairs aren't there.

When I started thinking about what Bernice’s Table could look like in a bag left at a church door, I kept coming back to soup—something warm, something that travels, something that doesn’t ask anything of the person receiving it except to open the lid. This Lemony Orzo Chicken Soup is the one I’ve been making all week: bright enough to cut through the heaviness, filling enough to matter, and simple enough to scale for fifty without losing its soul. The lemon is the thing—it reminds you that something alive is still in the pot, still in the day, still in you.

Lemony Orzo Chicken Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 4 thighs)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 medium carrots, sliced into rounds
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup orzo pasta, dry
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced (about 3 tablespoons juice)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Sear the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper on both sides. Add to the pot and cook 3–4 minutes per side until lightly golden. Remove chicken to a plate—it will finish cooking in the broth.
2. Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the same pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until the onion is softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
3. Add broth and simmer. Pour in the chicken broth and stir in the thyme, oregano, and lemon zest. Return the seared chicken thighs to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
4. Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken thighs to a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the meat into bite-size pieces. Return the shredded chicken to the pot.
5. Cook the orzo. Bring the soup back to a moderate boil. Stir in the orzo and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is just tender. Watch the pot—orzo absorbs liquid quickly and can thicken the soup significantly as it sits.
6. Finish with lemon and herbs. Stir in the lemon juice and fresh parsley. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. If the soup has thickened too much on standing, add a splash of broth or water to loosen it before serving or packing.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 320 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 540mg