Creamy Tuscan Chicken Soup

My current favourite chicken soup! Creamy broth, juicy little bits of chicken, pasta shells and swirls of spinach with a sprinkle of sun dried tomato I use in place of croutons. Think – under the Tuscan Sun. Except – sweater weather food!

Let me just say upfront – I call this Tuscan but there’s nothing authentically Tuscan about it (as far as I know). To me, it has Tuscan vibes, so I gave it a cute name with the hopes to pique your interest. Just in case my photo and writing doesn’t do the job well enough to convince you that you really need to try this creamy chicken soup!

• 500 g/1 lb chicken thighs , skinless boneless
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

• 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 onion , finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 large celery stems , finely sliced (sub 2 carrots)
• 1/2 cup chardonnay or other dry white wine, optional
• 4 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp cooking/kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 250g/8 oz small pasta shells (or other small pasta, rice, potato etc)
• 1 cup (tightly packed) parmesan, finely grated or store bought pre-grated (sandy type)
• 1 cup thickened/heavy cream
• 2 packed cups baby spinach , chopped kale or similar
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomato strips , chopped into 1cm pieces, plus bit of oil drizzling

• 2 tsp cornflour/cornstarch mixed with 2 tsp water