The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup

Back in the day, I posted some really simple chicken noodle soup. We had been sick, and I had some flat Asian rice noodles in the pantry. But I've learned so much since then.

When we were sick recently (um, welcome to winter. When weren't we sick recently?), this pumped up version of chicken noodle soup features homemade veggie broth, which is now a staple in our household. Our bouillion sits quietly, neglected in the back of the pantry.

I started with chicken broth, and it was a lot of work and you ended up with a boiling hot chicken carcass afterward. It seemed like a pain.

Enter: veggie broth. It's based on three things, and then you can build from there. The three magic ingredients are carrots, onions, and celery. You can even do what I do and throw the end parts of these veggies in a bag and put them in the freezer. These ends are great for stock, and you get to use every last bit of the vegetables in your life. If you're cleaning out your fridge, you can throw in the ends of bell peppers, spinach stems, bits of squash or zucchini, or heads of garlic.

There was also some good local representation in this soup, between the local onions and the Dreamcatcher Farms chicken (grown not far from here in Grantsville, Utah and roasted in the crockpot). After we ate the roasted chicken, I cleaned off the rest of the good meat and froze it.

I get the "well, you clearly spend all day in the kitchen, so no wonder you have time for that."
Sort of.

In Jennifer Reese's Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, we all end up with priorities for our cooking. How do we feed ourselves 3+ times a day? This can add up to be a lot of work.

I've found that, for me, the hour I spend on dinner is power hour. I'll do the dishes, throw some stock on the stove to simmer, prep some vegetables, maybe refill my flour containers and baking ingredients, or bake some muffins for the next day. I like moving quickly and being busy, and it only occasionally results in me burning the dinner.

Stock, for its incredible rich flavor, and endless uses in dairy-free cooking, is worth the effort.

Last Year: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
Two Years Ago: Preview - Cranberry Cream Pie
Three Years Ago: Yoplait Yogurt and New Design

The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup
No chicken noodle soup recipe is original, but I took some generic inspiration from Ree's Homemade Chicken and Noodles
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1/2 medium onion, fine dice
2 stalks celery, fine dice
2 carrots, fine dice
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley or 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 cups homemade veggie broth (very similar to our chicken broth or stock)
1 cup roasted chicken, chopped, from Dreamcatcher Farm (which I discussed here)
1 to 2 hands* of flat Asian rice noodles
salt and pepper to taste

Put a quart-sized saucepan on the stove with water to boil. In another pot of similar size, combine chicken or veggie stock, onion, celery and carrots. Bring to a simmer and add bay leaf, thyme, parsley and a bit of salt and pepper. Chop chicken and add it to the stock.

Once the water is boiling in the first pot, add noodles and cook according to the package instructions. When tender, remove them from the boiling water and run in cold water to keep them al dente. Then, add them to the stock and veggie pot, and stir to combine. Continue to simmer the soup for 15 minutes at least, so that the flavors can meld. Salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:
*With dry noodles in your hand, wrap your fingers around the noodles and touch your thumb to your index finger. One hand is a good amount of noodles for two people.
- It's easy to adjust the amount of stock to have the soup as dense or as brothy as you would like. Or, you could add extra chicken and noodles to bulk up the soup.
- This soup is so soothing on the throat. Make sure that the veggies come out firm and bright, but not uncooked. There's a fine balance for the veggies that will help them be the perfect texture - giving you the perfect soup!

Please comment: Do you have time in your life to make stock? Would you or do you? Have you tasted homemade stock. If it seems labor-intensive, try veggie stock. Faster and no messy chicken carcass to deal with.