Chicken Provencal Stoup

Rachael Ray stikes again! I've been falling in love with her ideas and recipes. I just discovered that she has a show called '30 minute meals'--that's my kind of cooking: quick! She was making this the other day and it caught my eye. She says it's supposed to taste like food in France-one of the main reasons I wanted to try it. We have eaten this almost every night this week and not gotten sick of it. The recipe calls for white wine which I didn't use (I just used water) but I think I might need to find something instead of just water to replace it...something with more flavor that would go with the rest. One of her ideas while she's cooking is to have a 'garbage bowl' to place all garbage in: seeds, peals, cans, etc. so you don't waste time going to and from the trash. I tried it and I loved it! Made my cooking so much more efficient! Anyway-here's the Stoup:

Chicken Provencal "Stoup" Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray
Show: 30 Minute Meals
Episode:Total Relaxation

A stoup is thicker than soup and thinner than stew and best of all, a one-pot meal!

2 medium carrots, peeled
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 medium zucchini
1 small to medium red bell pepper, seeded
1 medium yellow skinned onion, peeled and halved
Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon herbes de Provence, available on spice aisle or, 1 teaspoon each dried sage, rosemary and thyme
1 1/2 pounds small red skinned potatoes
1 cup dry white wine
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes or coarsely ground tomatoes
1 quart plus 1 cup chicken stock, available in quart and 1 cup paper box containers on the soup aisle
1 pound chicken tenders, diced
1 small jar black olive tapenade, 4 ounces, found with Italian foods or on condiment aisle (I didn't find this so we made it without)
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Crusty bread, to pass at table

One medium soup pot preheated over medium high heat. While soup pot heats, chop carrots into 1/4-inch dice, then add garlic, and stir to coat in extra-virgin olive oil. Chop and drop in the zucchini, pepper and onion next, 1/2 inch dice. Season all the veggies with salt and pepper and herbes de Provence. Cook the veggies together 5 minutes. While they cook, cut potatoes into thin wedges. Add wine to vegetables and reduce a minute or so. Add the tomatoes, cut potatoes and stock to the pot, cover the pot and raise heat to high. Bring the stoup to a boil, then add cut chicken and simmer 8 to10 minutes until potatoes are just tender and chicken is cooked through. Serve stoup in shallow bowls and stir in a rounded spoonful of black olive tapenade at the table. Top soup with chopped parsley and pass crusty bread at the table for dipping and mopping.

Yummy!! Enjoy!