Chicken Noodle Soup
By: Gigi Howe
This recipe will be prepared at my house today. The flu got its hooks in us and knocked us down for a while. There is nothing like a good bowl of hot chicken soup when you’re under the weather but homemade soup tastes good anytime. And with these cold temperatures throughout the U.S. soup sounds just about right.
What is great about chicken soup is that you can freeze the broth and save it for cooking or for soup at a later date. This recipe makes a nice sized pot of soup. You use about 2-3 pounds of chicken. You can use a whole chicken or parts. For the batch that I will make today I am using thighs (its what I have in the freezer). You can add your own favorites to the broth, or keep it simple. I’ll give you the basic recipe and then you can be creative with your own add-ins.
Ingredients:
– 2 1/2 – 3 lbs of chicken
– 2 onions, peeled and quartered
– 2 carrots, roughly chopped
– 2 celery stalks (with leaves if possible), roughly chopped
– a few sprigs of parsley
– 2 cloves garlic, halved
– 1 bay leaf
– 10 whole peppercorns
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 6 ounces vermicelli (broken into pieces) or egg noodles
– salt and pepper to taste
– Optional add-ins: grated carrots, chopped tomatoes, sliced scallions, peas, beans, sliced mushrooms
Directions:
1. Put the chicken into a large pot with all the vegetables, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt. Cover with approximately 10-12 cups of cold water.
2. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat. Partly cover the pot and simmer soup slowly for 3 hours. Turn off heat and let soup cool slightly.
3. Strain soup into a large bowl or another pot. Separate the chicken from the bones. Save some chicken to add back into the soup, rest can be used for sandwiches. Separate vegetables and puree in food processor. Discard bay leaf and peppercorns.
4. Let soup cool and carefully remove the layer of fat that will rise to the surface. If you make this recipe the day before you want to serve it, put the broth in the refrigerator and the fat will be very easy to remove from the soup.
5. Reheat soup in a large pot. Add pureed vegetables and chicken. Add optional vegetables. Add noodles or vermicelli and let simmer for 6 – 8 minutes until pasta is cooked.
Enjoy!!
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