Friday, January 7, 2011

Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

This is the best recipe I've found for chicken soup. Instead of trying to create flavorful stock from scraps and bones of chicken, you create a better one using ground chicken. Small pieces of chicken give up flavor much more than large pieces of chicken.
First, make the stock.
Heat 1 TB veg oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering.
Add 1 lb ground chicken, 1 small chopped onion, 1 medium peeled, chopped carrot, and 1 stalk chopped celery. Cook, stirring frequently until chicken is no longer pink.
Reduce heat to medium-low.
Add 32 oz. water, 64 oz. (2 cartons) low-sodium chicken broth, 3 bay leaves, a dash of table salt, and 2 split bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves, cut in half.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove lid and bring to a boil on high (if boiling already, immediately remove chicken breasts to a plate to cool).
Maintain a gentle boil for 20 minutes.
Pour stock through a sieve set upon another large pot or bowl. Press down on solids to get any liquid gold out, then discard the solids. Let the stock sit to cool while you prep veggies for the final soup.
Once stock has cooled, skim off fat with a spoon. You will leave some behind, the point is to remove any excess.
Return the stock to the Dutch oven set over medium-high heat.
Measure 1/4 cup water. Add 3 TB cornstarch and stir up until dissolved. Stir into the stock and bring to a gentle boil.
Add a small onion, halved and sliced thin, 2 medium carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise in 3/4" pieces, 1 celery rib, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2" pieces, 1 medium russet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4" cubes. Cook until potato pieces are almost tender, 10-15 minutes.
Add 1 cup egg noodles and continue to cook until tender, about 5 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, remove skin and bones from chicken breasts and finely shred with your fingers. It's helpful to cut some of the larger strands with a knife once they're pulled apart.
Add shredded chicken to soup, along with 2 TB chopped parsley (from our garden!) and cook until heated through, 2 minutes longer. Season with fresh ground pepper; serve.

4 comments:

  1. Made it tonight using kale in place of a potato, Penzey's soup base and Trader Joe's smoked sea salt. As always on the lookout for a bargain, used 1 lb ground chicken burgers instead of ground chicken since they were $1 less ($2.49).
    A flavor boost: added 5 sprigs of fresh thyme from the garden, let them simmer with the noodles for 5 min, then removed them. Subtle yet recognizable flavor and healthy!

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  2. Just had some (from this batch that was frozen) for dinner, YUM! Cook ahead and freeze for a quick dinner later. Also try with the one hour dinner rolls recipe.

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  3. Yum! Again used kale instead of potato. Used Shaw's/Star store brand "Essentials" low sodium chicken broth. Unimpressed- looked like water when I poured it out. Subbed in 4 tsp store brand bouillon but it has MSG :( . Need to get more Penzey's chicken soup base!

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  4. Used Better Than Buillon and skipped the ground chicken, instead used thighs. Used peeled baby carrots and celery from a veggie tray. 1 large onion instead of 2 small is fine.

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