CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

As I mentioned in the post about camping in North Georgia, we had Madison and her two sisters with us and after the trip they all came back home with us for another week, which got extended to two+ weeks.  While here Bev asked each of them if they would like something special for supper and Riley chose chicken noodle soup.

For this soup, we’ve been using my dad’s recipe for years and Bev went about making it with the first step being “In a large pot, cover breast with water, add a little salt, bring to boil and simmer until chicken is done – about 25 minutes.”  However, she didn’t read the directions and roasted the breast in the toaster oven until the skin was golden brown, at which time I pointed out the recipe instructions.

We both agreed it might still make good soup, so I removed the main breast muscle and skin from the bone and tender muscle, added everything to the pot, and proceeded with the recipe directions from there.

Chicken Noodle Soup – adapted from Dad

Makes about 4 quarts

4 ea                Bone on chicken breasts (or 2 of the more common giant ones)

3 qts                Water

2 stocks          Celery, diced

2 lge               Carrots, diced

1 lge               Onions, diced

8 oz                 Frozen peas (we omitted for Riley)

8 oz                 Dry wide egg noodles or pasta of choice (more or less to taste)

3 ea                Chicken bouillon cubes, dissolved (only if needed)

1/3 tsp            Thyme, dried

½ ea               Bay leaf

1½ tsp            Parsley, dried

1/3                  Tiger Seasoning

to taste           Salt

to taste           White pepper

1. Roast breasts until the skin is nicely browned, cool it enough to handle, pull off main breast muscle, and add everything to the soup pot including any juices in the roasting pan.

2. Add the water, a little salt, bring to boil, and simmer about 25 minutes.

3. Remove chicken from broth, and set aside to cool enough to handle then debone and dice meat to desired size - discard skin and bones.

4. Strain broth and remove most of the fat.

5. Add broth back to pan, dissolved bouillon cubes (if using), and salt and pepper to taste.

6. Add vegetables and cook until done.

7. Meanwhile cook egg noodles al dente in another pan, salted to taste.

8. Drain noodles and add to the soup.

9. Stir all together and serve.

For her pasta, Riley chose a mix of spaghetti and dots and I followed the package directions for cooking beginning with the spaghetti, which I forgot to break into shorter pieces – making it a little harder to eat.  The picture doesn't do it justice - Bev added some roasted jalapeno to her bowl.

What a fine mistake it was to roast the chicken as it gave the soup a rich, full bodied flavor and this will be the new standard from now on.  Even though it had been cooked twice, the chicken was moist and tender – I used about a ½” dice.  If you have a favorite chicken soup recipe, that doesn’t include roasting the chicken, you may want to give it a try.

Sorry for the lack of photos but I wasn’t planning a blog post about this until I tasted it.

After the chicken soup, Reese and Riley decided a bubble bath was in order - no posing, they just looked this way.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

7/22/2013 meal date