Portuguese Chicken Soup with Lemon and Mint

1. Place the chicken cut into portions in a saucepan, I used wings and thighs.

2. Add sprigs of mint and parsley. Leave a couple of sprigs of mint for serving the soup.

3. Chop the celery stalk and also add to the saucepan.

4. Add the chili pepper flakes.

5. Peel the onion and cut it into four pieces. Add to the saucepan. BUT, I came across a version of this soup in which the onion was pre-chopped and fried until transparent in olive oil. I indicated the amount of olive oil in the recipe if you want to add fried onions to the soup.

6. Remove the zest from the lemon and add it to the saucepan.

7. Pour about 1.5 liters of water into the saucepan, add 1 tsp. salt and put the pan on the fire. First, cook on high heat and remove the foam that forms. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook the broth until the chicken is fully cooked.

8. Remove the chicken from the pan and strain the broth.

9. Break the cooled chicken into small pieces.

10. Put the pan with chicken broth on the fire. As soon as the broth boils, pour in the orzo pasta.

11. Cook the soup for another 10-12 minutes, until the pasta is fully cooked. Then add lemon juice to the soup. Add the juice in portions and taste the soup. Add salt if needed. Chop and add a few mint leaves to the pan. Remove the soup from the heat.

12. Portuguese chicken soup with lemon and mint is ready! To serve, put some chicken in a bowl and pour chicken broth with orzo pasta, lemon and mint over it.

13. This is incredibly delicious!