Chicken and Bacon...in a Soup!!

I'm really into the bacon-based soups. Here's another bacon soup but this one has chicken too. You can never go wrong with chicken and bacon. Mmm!

Hunter's Chicken Stoup with Whole-Wheat Pasta
from Rachael Ray

1 lb whole-wheat short pasta (gemelli or penne)
6 Tbsp olive oil
4 (1/4-inch-thick) slices pancetta, chopped
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into large bite-sized pieces
salt and pepper
6 portobello mushroom caps, cut into bite-sized dice
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
4 fresh rosemary sprigs, finely chopped
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 (28-oz) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
2 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1 cup grated or shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt it liberally, add the pasta and cook al dente.
2. While the water heats and the pasta cooks, make the stoup. Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat with 3 Tbsp olive oil. Add the pancetta and cook for a couple of minutes to crisp it up, then remove it to a plate. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken for 10 minutes then transfer it to the plate with the pancetta. Add the remaining 3 Tbsp of oil and heat. When it's hot, add the mushrooms and soften them up for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the onions, carrot, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, garlic and rosemary, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms are dark and the onions are tender, another 6 to 8 minutes. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, stirring up any bits from the bottom, then stir in the stock and tomatoes. Slide the chicken and pancetta back into the pan. Discard the bay leaf.
3. Just before the pasta is done, add 2 ladles of the starchy pasta water to the skillet with the chicken. Drain the pasta and return it to the hot pot. Add the butter, a couple of ladles of the stoup, and the cheese. Toss to combine.
4. Serve shallow bowls of pasta and top with ladles of the chicken and mushroom stoup to be mixed together.

I'm too cheap to buy pancetta on any regular basis so I substituted bacon. Bacon and olive oil smell heavenly. I also misread the recipe while gathering supplies and bought bone-in chicken thighs. Oops! It upped the preparation time since I had to debone the chicken before cutting it up but didn't effect the overall product. I also didn't have portobello mushrooms but I did have some button mushrooms left over from a previous recipe. Those seem to work well. All the veggies cooking. It smelled pretty good. (I subbed dried rosemary for the fresh and just eyeballed the amount.) The "stoup" (stew + soup). It was almost too much for my skillet! I looked everywhere for the can of crushed fire-roasted tomatoes. I was certain I had seen it somewhere before so I went to almost every store in my area. I didn't find it but I was able to substitute a couple of cans of fire-roasted diced tomatoes. I was going to crush them myself but forgot. I also used the cooking wine that can be found next to the vinegars. I know that some cooks would yell at me for not using the real thing (apparently it's not the same quality) but I'm still too frightened/intimidated of a liquor store and wine in general to buy the real stuff. The final product was warm and hearty. I was able to make a couple more adjustments (brown-rice pasta and omitting the butter and cheese) to make it allergen-free for Asher. The pictured version is actually what Asher and I ate. I made the regular for Tyler and Addilyn and all agreed that it was pretty delicious. I was able to recognize the wine flavor but didn't find it overpowering. The pasta was also pretty good by itself warmed up as leftovers.