Dreamy Chicken Soup with Rice, Lemon & Mint

The soup was dreamy.
   There is simply no other way to describe it. Dreamy. I leaned back, closed my eyes and savored each and every slurp of Chicken Soup with Rice, Lemon & Mint (click for the recipe) from Fine Cooking magazine.
   This is chicken soup with just a bit of zing, thanks to the lemon juice and mint. It’s an ideal soup for spring.
   However, even though it’s delicious (and dreamy), I’m not entirely sure it’s for everyone. People expecting straightforward chicken soup like the canned variety may not go for it. Those of you cooking for children or picky eaters have been warned.
   I found the second bowl tasted even better than the first, so this is my official advice about this soup: Even though the recipe says to serve it right away, let it sit for about five minutes before serving.
   Be sure to advise people eating the soup to add just a touch of salt to their serving – it makes a nice difference.
   The leftovers warm up beautifully in the microwave. Weekday lunches, here we come!
   The recipe I linked to on the Fine Cooking website links to a recipe for homemade chicken broth to use in the soup.
   We used lower-salt chicken broth from the soup aisle of the supermarket instead, making the soup an absolute snap to make.
   Some of the broth, water and salt are brought to a boil, and long-grain rice is stirred in and simmered (we used basmati rice as the recipe suggested.)
   The rest of the broth is brought to a simmer, and one sliced, boneless skinless chicken breast is added and poached in the simmering broth. (We skipped the bit about straining the soup through a cheesecloth if the soup is cloudy. Who cares if the soup is cloudy?)
   The rice, fresh lemon juice and fresh mint are added to the broth. Let the soup stand for a bit, then serve.