It’s definitely been soup weather recently! With howling winds outside, miserable January rain and chilly evenings, soup’s the perfect way to warm up from the inside out.
Working with soup brand GLORIOUS!, I’ve been trying a range of their offerings. In November it was their beautiful Sunny Thai Chicken variety (review here) – in December, though, I came back a little closer to home with their Tuscan Chicken & Orzo.
While I’ve visited Italy many times in the past, the central Italian region of Tuscany is somewhere I’ve not yet had the chance to explore. With cities such as Florence, part of the Italian coastline, ancient Roman and Etruscan sites and plenty of beautiful countryside, it’s certainly somewhere that I’d love to visit.
Obviously, from a foodie point of view I’m keen too. Tuscan food is all about high quality ingredients combined in a simple yet tasty way. It’s an area that’s all about locally sourced produce, not relying on rich sauces to carry ingredients, but letting them shine for themselves.
Truffles, mushrooms, wine and olive oil are all local specialities, and there are certain dishes that are key to the region too. Leftover bread is thrown into panzanella salads, tagliatelle al tartufo makes use of locally foraged truffles in a hearty pasta dish, or try the basic but delicious fettunta – a simple slice of grilled bread, topped with olive oil, salt and garlic.
The Tuscans are heavily into their soups too, with one of the most famous being the ribollita – more of a chunky stew than a soup, whose name literally means “reboiled” as it is often made a day in advance and boiled again before serving.
With a nod to Tuscany’s love of soup, the GLORIOUS! Tuscan Chicken & Orzo variety is certainly a hearty winter warmer. The chicken, we were pleased to see, was generous – shredded, rather than appearing in big chunks – and the orzo itself was cooked al dente, so it still had a good bite.
The soup certainly felt healthy too, packed full of tomatoes, courgettes, potato, spinach and carrot: it’s incredibly tomato-heavy, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s definitely a meal in a pot, counts as one of your five a day, is dairy-free and weighs in at just 120 calories per half pot, meaning that it’s great for dieters too.
In the absence of genuine Tuscan bread, we stuck with a vaguely Italian theme when serving, spreading a flat bread with garlic butter and topping with mozzarella. Delicious.
With fantastic, non-artificial flavours, a generosity of ingredients and the fact that it’s so filling, it’s a soup that I’ll definitely be buying again. If you’re interested in trying it too, you can find a stockist list on the GLORIOUS! website.
Now I just need to book that trip to Tuscany…
Please note: this post was commissioned by GLORIOUS!, but this in no way impacted on our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and the company did not see this review before it was put up on the site.