Soups On...

Labor day proved to be a lazy, wonderful and RAINY day.  I love cloudy days,  I love rainy days.  Especially when I can just be at home and do absolutely nothing. I watched a great movie and I cooked. This soggy day called for homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies.  The house smelled amazing.  All warm and cozy...a perfect day. I hope you enjoy my take on Chicken Noodle Soup....

I've got to mention a few things first.... I thought I was getting a package of cut up whole chicken, but I got a package that ONLY had breast, thighs and backs...(weird). And I didn't have any dried or fresh thyme or basil, so I opted for Herbes De Provence .......

It's a really nice blend of herbs that include savory, fennel, basil, thyme and lavender flowers and other herbs.

Ingredients

1 package of chicken (cut up or whole) 

carrots

onions

celery

herbs de provence ( or dried thyme and basil)

salt and pepper

butter (optional)

egg noodles

First things First... Clean your Chicken!!  I soaked my chicken in salted water and lemon for a while.  I know this sounds crazy, but it really takes that raw chickeny smell out of your Chicken. And if you can.... buy organic chicken.

After cleaning, place your chicken into a very large pot or dutch oven along with the tops and bottoms of your celery and carrots and  one onion  including skin ( we'll discard this later) Now cover with cold water and salt, pepper and herbs and bring to a boil....

Cook chicken until done and pulling away from skin. Remove your chicken and place it in a colander or bowl to cool. Once it's cooled you can then start removing the meat from the skin and bones and placing the skin and bones back into the pot.

I know it looks disturbing...

 Simmer this for about 1.5 to 2 hours... This is the beginning of a rich and lovely stock. In the mean time you should start prepping your veggies for the soup.  Cut up your carrots, onions and celery and set aside until you are ready to add them.

Something else you should know...I intended for a lot of this to be on video so that you could see all of the goodies in action, but I DIDN'T SAVE ANY OF THE VIDEO!! I was so bummed, a lesson learned.  Next time you you'll see everything from start to finish.

 

 chopped carrots, celery and onions

Okay guys, we are almost there.....

After you have removed the chicken from the skin and bones shred it into bite size pieces.

Now you want to sweat your veggies in some of the fat juice from the stock.  This method will ensure that your vegetables are soft but still have a nice bite to them in the soup. Add salt & pepper and the HDP.

This is the sad part.... No pictures because of the video malfunction. Remove the chicken parts, skin and bones and set it aside and drain the pot so that you only have the broth.  Add the broth back to the pot along with the veggies and the shredded chicken.  Add 2 chicken boullion cubes and a little more water(your broth will have reduced some).  Bring everything to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes and skim of any foamy oily residue from the soup and finally add your noodles and cook until done.

You can add a tablespoon of butter to the pot to add more flavor...but this is completely optional....ENJOY!

Bye for now, 

Loren