Chicken, Chicken Soup with Noodles

I think it is safe to say that most of us spent a large portion of our formative years being lulled to sleep by the words of Maruice Sendak. Where the Wild Things are is of course his most popular I suppose, but as a kid I would read, while at my grandparents house, a collection of his books that included Pierre (a cautionary tale), Aligators all around, and Chicken Soup With Rice. These books were the most honest children s books and I was absolutely obsessed with them. Poor Pierre gets eaten by a lion or something like that, I can't remember for sure but it was scary as hell and totally exciting. While Pierre introduced us to the excitement of fear among other things, Chicken Soup with Rice was my introduction to one of lifes most important lessions. Chicken Soup is not only food, but it posses magical powers. It is a dish that is to be treated with reverence, and deserves to have entire books written in its honor.





And it's true isn't is? When you are really tired, or stressed, or simply have had way to many Christmas cookies and need something restorative, chicken soup is without a doubt the way to go. Alex and I have eaten enough Christmas cookies and heavy food in the last week to last us the rest of the year. So this past Sunday we decided that chicken soup would be the way to go. We decided however to go with chicken noodle, not chicken soup with rice, but I think that the general principals of awesomeness apply to all chicken soups regardless of starch.





I got Alice Waters "The Art of Simple Food" for Christmas this year and we decided to follow her recipe for chicken noodle soup pretty closely. The only change we actually made was to the noodles, the recipe originally called for fettuccine and we used Egg noodles because I think that chicken noodles with Egg noodle is without a doubt the best way to go. Also, we added a lot of extra broth at the end because we love broth.







Chicken Noodle Soup
Adapted from Alice Walter, The art of Simple Food

• 1 Chicken Breast half-bone in with skin
• 1 Quart Chicken Broth- we actually ended up using an extra 2 cups after the soup was completely cooked to make it a bit more bothy. If you like a soup with a lot of broth have some extra broth on hand.
• 1/2 medium onion peeled and sliced + 3 tbl diced onions
• 1/2 carrot, peeled and sliced + 3 tbl diced carrots
• 1/4 parsni, peeled and sliced + 2 tbl diced parsnip
• 1 parsley sprig
• 1 oz noodles-we used Egg, but you can use Fettuccini if you want as well
• Salt
• Chopped fresh Dill for garnish

In a large pot place the chicken Brest and 1 quart of chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. If any fat comes to top skim it off.

Once the pot has come to a boil add the 1/2 onion, 1/2 carrot, 1/2 celery and 1/4 parsnip along with the parsley sprig. Allow the pot to simmer for 40 minutes.

Turn of the broth and remove the chicken from the pan, place it on a plate or in a bowl and let cool.

Strain out the broth with a fine strainer, discard the veggies and parsley.

Once the brest has cooled remove the skin and the bone, and cut the meat into small pieces and place them in a bowl. Cover the meat with a few spoonfuls of broth.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles. Drain them and rinse with cold water and set aside.

In a heavy pot add the diced onions, carrots, celeary, parsnips and salt. Covere the veggies with 2 cups of the chicken broth, and cook at a gentel simmer for about 15 minutes. When the veggies are cooked add the remaining broth, cooked noodles, and chicken meat. If you feel the need, add stock until the soup is the ratio of chunks to broth that you prefer.

Serve the soup in warmed bowl with chopped dill on top.