Ever been to Panera and tried out one of their broth bowls? Well I have and I love them with a serious foodie passion. I’ve eaten all the varieties and my favorite by far is the quinoa bowl. It just feels healthy. Being the flexible vegetarian that I am, I tend to order it with the egg. My husband and boys, on the other hand, are meat lovers to the extreme so for them, chicken it is.
And can I just drift for one minute and throw out a suggestion to Panera? Panera, if you’re out there reading this, a hard boiled egg is just not the right answer. If you really want to perfect your recipe add a fried egg to the top of said soup. When that warm yolk meets that flavorful broth the “umami’ing” that occurs is sooo worth the effort. Trust me, I say this from experience. Multiple experiences. Now I want a fried egg. Ok, drift complete.
Remember that sofrito from last week? You’ll need it for this dish. If you’ve cooked yourself up bowlful, now’s the time to grab it out of the fridge along with some cooked lentils, quinoa and brown rice. When I’m putting this dish together, I like to make enough grains for multiple bowls. That way I can quickly have the makings for lunch all week long.
You’ll need to cook up a pot of broth as well. This is as easy as combining vegetable broth, soy sauce, lemon juice and, if you have it on hand, green miso. Turn up the gas and let it cook until it’s steaming hot. For assembly, place a pile of spinach and baby kale at the bottom of the bowl. Scoop a little of each grain and the sofrito on top of that, pour the steaming hot broth over the whole shebang and then top with either cooked chicken slices or a fried egg.
As a side note, I used chicken thighs and sprinkled some salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika over the top before cooking them in the oven. You can use pretty much any form of chicken you desire. Even rotisserie would taste yummy with this. If you’re going the egg route, make sure to leave it at least over medium so that you can enjoy some of that delectable yolk. Enjoy!
- 5 Cups Vegetable/Chick Broth
- 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- Juice from ½ of a Fresh Lemon
- 1 tsp Miso Paste (optional)
- 1 8 Oz. Package of Spinach
- 1 8 Oz. Package of Kale
- 1 Cup Quinoa, Cooked
- 1 Cup Brown Rice, Cooked
- 1 Cup Green Lentils, Cooked
- 1 Recipe for Sofrito
- 1 Pound Cooked and Sliced Chicken Meat
- 4 Eggs (Optional in Place of Chicken)
- One handful of baby spinach
- One handful of baby Kale
- ¼ Cup Cooked Quinoa
- ¼ Cup Cooked Brown Rice
- ¼ Cup Cooked Green Lentils
- 1 Heaping Spoonful Sofrito
- ½ Cup Broth
- 5-6 Slices of Cooked Chicken
- 1 Fried Egg
- For the broth, add all ingredients list above to a medium saucepan and heat until steaming.
- To assemble, add the kale and spinach to the bottom of the bowl.
- Add the quinoa, brown rice and lentils.
- Top with the sofrito.
- Pour the hot broth over the top of the grains.
- Lay chicken or Egg on top of soup and enjoy!
Oh darn I missed the recipe for soffrito..could you pass it along…thanks
Julie replied: — April 16th, 2016 @ 6:24 pm
Emailed it to you!