And apparently, its like soup week or something around here. I really cannot seem to get enough of it. Its not just that I like eating it either - I love making soup. Its something I can do with relative ease - its easy to plan for, easy to complete, easy to clean up and easy to store. Is it because I'm pregnant that I find the need to absolutely fill my freezer to the brim with containers of soup? Is this so-called nesting? I have no idea but it has become a damn near obsession.
I don't know if this one will make it to the freezer though, because its just too good. Bowl after bowl-full. There is just something about chicken noodle soup that makes you want to go back for seconds. The broth is rich and strong but none of the flavors overpower the chicken. Its hearty enough to fill you up after a long day working, chasing kids or cleaning house (or hopefully something far more exciting) - but its also mild enough to make a great warm meal when you are feeling under the weather. And with the season changing and bringing lots of rain, I have a feeling there is going to be something going around before long.
Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
5 cups Chicken Broth or Stock
1 cup water
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 of a Celery Root, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 cup pulled/shredded Chicken breast
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cup finely diced carrot (about 1 carrot)
1/2 cup finely diced leek (about 1 small leek)
1/2 tsp dried Thyme
2 to 2 1/2 cups cooked pasta (I used Gemili - you could use Egg noodles, Linguine broken into bite sized bits, or whatever suits your fancy: here is a great guide to pasta shapes)
Salt
Pepper
Place the Broth, water, onion, 2 carrots, celery root, parsley and garlic in soup pot. Season with salt if needed (it really just depends on your broth). Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for around 30 or 40 minutes.
Drain through a fine sieve and/or cheesecloth (reserving broth and straining out all the veggies and sediment). Place the pulled chicken in the broth and cover and set aside.
In your soup pot, heat Olive Oil then add the diced carrot and leek, thyme and pinch or so of black pepper. Saute for around 10 minutes - until the veggies get nice and soft and leeks are just starting to brown/caramelize.
Add half of the broth, cover and gently simmer for around 10 minutes. Add the rest of the stock, pulled chicken and cooked pasta. Taste and season with salt and pepper as necessary, then gently simmer for a few more minutes (don't let it cook too long, or sit for a long time after cooking, as the pasta tends to just soak up all that broth).
Serve nice and warm, ladled into bowls with a pinch or two of chopped parsley.
Posts
This looks really good and I'd like to make it soon! Three questions though:
ReplyDelete1) How many cooked chicken breast did you use to make the 1 cup of shredded chicken?
2) How many servings does this make?
3) Where can cheesecloths or sieves be found?
Thanks for your help! :)
Hey Brandi! I used one medium chicken breast to get 1 cup. I would say this makes 4 servings depending on how big they are. Me and my husband however, shared the whole pot ourselves but we didn't eat any other sides or anything with it - just both ate 2 very very large bowls :) If you are in the US - the easiest place to find cheesecloth and a sieve (fine mesh strainer) would be Sur La Table or a similar type of kitchen supply store - neither of those items costs much even at that store. You could also check places like Target, but I have no idea if they have cheesecloth there or not. Good luck, hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteA perfect bowl-full on the coldest of days and then I would go back for seconds...maybe thirds.
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing, i just recently caught a cold and needed a good homemade recipe thanks for the help ill been cooking this tonight !
ReplyDeletehttp://chloesnacks.blogspot.com/