Farmer's Market Chicken Vegetable Soup

This is a perfect recipe for this time of year! I had nearly everything for this recipe from my last 2 weeks' baskets from the Colvins; in years' past, I would have had everything (but the weather kept those potatoes and tomatoes on the scanty side this year). No matter--those were easy enough to pick up elsewhere. The wine and fresh basil are optional, but they really are good in this. My roommate and I used to make this years ago before we each got married and before our budgets allowed either wine or fresh basil--and it was delicious even with substitutions.

Preparation Note: You can make this soup in about 45 minutes if you're strategic. Cut the vegetables up in order listed; you should be able to start cooking the potato pieces while you're working on the butternut squash, and so forth.

Farmer's Market Chicken Vegetable Soup
(titled in cookbook: "Chicken and Potato Soup with Fall Vegetables")
~Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread Cookbook

• 2 1/2 quarts chicken stock**
• 3 c. dry white wine
• 1 T. tomato paste, optional (but adds good "oomph")
• 2 t. dried basil, or 1 c. lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 to 2 cups peeled, seeded, and diced butternut squash (1 small to medium butternut)
• 1 T. butter
• 1 T. vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1 fresh tomato, roughly chopped (scrape out the seeds)
• 1/2 pound fresh green beans, stems trimmed, and sliced into very thin 1/4-inch slices
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/4 to 2 c. diced cooked chicken**

**I only use 4 cups stock, and, if I don't have cooked chicken on hand, will cook a chicken breast in the stock with the potatoes and the squash (it's easy to pull the whole piece of chicken out as long as you do it before you add too many of the rest of the vegetables!).

1. Bring wine and stock to a boil in a big soup pot. Turn heat down to medium-low and let simmer. Whisk in tomato paste, if using. Add dried basil, if using. Add potatoes to simmering stock, cover, and let cook 10 minutes. Add butternut squash and recover.
2. Meanwhile, heat butter and oil together in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion for about 3 to 4 minutes, until translucent. Add pepper and cook for about a minute. Add tomato and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add these vegetables to the stock mixture (deglaze skillet with some hot stock). Simmer the soup for another 5 minutes, covered.
3. Add green beans to simmering coup and recover. 
4. If using fresh basil, slice into thin ribbons. Add basil ribbons to soup along with salt and pepper to taste. Add chicken pieces. Cook until squash and green beans are tender (about 5 more minutes). 

 ~Serves 5 to 6 amply