Friday, August 21, 2009

Chicken Noodle Soup


I watched my friend Julie make homemade chicken noodle soup a few months ago, and immediately started trying to recreate it- homemade noodles and all....here's my basic recipe, although I strayed a bit from it yesterday...

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
1 c chopped carrots
1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped onion
2 tsp garlic powder
2 chicken builion cubes
egg noodles
salt and pepper, to taste

Boil the chicken, whole, in enough water to cover it, with garlic powder and boullion added. It's done when it starts to fall apart. Remove the chicken from the water and pull the meat off the bones (it should be falling off) and discard the bones. If you have more time, you can return the bones to the stock to add flavor. If you have time- cool the stock and skim the fat.

In a separate pot, saute veggies, until tender. Add them, and the chicken back to the broth. Simmer as long as you have time. Return to a boil, add egg noodles and cook until al dente. Salt and pepper to taste. You may also add some evaporated milk at the end to make it a bit creamier (use skim).

Here's what I did last night...I didn't have a whole chicken, so I used 2 large chicken breasts instead. I sauted onions, carrots and garlic (no celery this time) and then added 5 cups of broth and 2 cups of water. I used 3 c chicken broth, and 2 c veggie broth. The most important part of this soup is using home made egg noodles....here's the recipe for them, from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients:
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
Directions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Add the beaten egg, milk, and butter. Knead dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Let rest in a covered bowl for 10 minutes.
  2. On a floured surface, roll out to 1/8 or 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired lengths and shapes.
  3. Allow to air dry before cooking.
  4. To cook fresh pasta, in a large pot with boiling salted water cook until al dente.
I half the noodle recipe for this soup, but you can make the full recipe and freeze half of the noodles to use later, which I have also done. I recommend rolling out the dough, and then rolling it up into a log, slicing it into 1/2 inch strips, rolling them out, and then cutting them into 1 inch noodles. It's VERY easy. I have never let the dough rest, and never had a problem.

The result...regardless of how I make it, this soup is always soooo good! I usually had sriracha sauce to my bowl, and so does my husband. Even my 9 month old and 3 year old enjoyed it! I think that making it with chicken breasts makes it soooo much easier, but I do like having some dark meat in the soup- maybe next time I'll buy some boneless/skinless thighs to use with the breasts!

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