We got exposed to COVID-19 this week. You remember COVID-19, right? If not, just remember wearing your first N-95 mask. Smell that blown-in fiber? Ah, those smell memories can really take you back.
We don’t know yet whether we will come down with symptoms. While we watch and wait, isolated in our home, we look for comfort in the kitchen. The recipe that follows is one I developed by crudely coalescing tidbits of other recipes (including my sister Patty’s Chicken Noodle Soup) and experimenting using my family’s tastebuds. I hope to put some of the soup away in the freezer for that time when neither Roslyn nor I feel capable of cooking.
My granddaughter’s favorite part of this soup is the carrots. She eats all of them out of her bowl of soup and then bums more from others. So I use a lot of carrots.
Chicken Noodle Soup recipe
This recipe makes a pretty big pot. But it goes fast.
- About a pound of carrots, peeled or unpeeled, sliced into quarter-inch slices.
- About a quarter pound of celery stalks, sliced into quarter-inch slices. Reserve celery leaves and chop them finely for seasoning if you like them like I do.)
- One small-to-medium brown or yellow onion, chopped.
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil (or any oil or butter you like to sauté with).
After slicing and chopping all those vegetables, put a big soup pot on the stove and heat the oil on medium-high a few moments until hot.
Dump in the onions and celery, and sauté, until the onions look a bit translucent. No need to overcook here, as the soup will simmer a while. You just want to release the aromatics of the vegetables.
Add the sliced carrots to the pot. Then grab:
- 2 quarts of low sodium chicken broth.
- 1 quart of water.
Add the broth and water to the pot. Maintain the heat at medium-high. Then add these seasonings:
- 1 teaspoon of dried thyme leaves.
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary leaves.
- 1 teaspoon of dried parsley leaves.
- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. You instead can use a few cloves of fresh chopped garlic, or a tablespoon of bottled chopped garlic if you like.
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper.
- Chopped celery leaves if you made any earlier.
Bring pot to a low boil, stirring occasionally. Take a moment to appreciate the smell of your soup pot as those flavors merge together. When the pot reaches that low boil, add:
- 1-1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken cut into chunks of 1/2 to 3/4-inch. I usually use chicken breast because it’s easier to chop up. Dark meat’s flavor is good here, too.
Let the pot slowly boil for half an hour, stirring occasionally, making sure the chicken chunks are cooked through. During this cooking time, the other flavors continue to merge and mellow.
- Noodles
I usually use “Grandma’s Frozen Wide Egg Noodles” (11 ounce package) because they remind me of mom’s homemade noodles. She rolled out dough, cut the strips of noodles with a knife, and placed them directly into the boiling soup pot. They are substantial. I once tried using two 11-ounce packages in this recipe but that was too many noodles. Who knew that was possible? Well, too many noodles absorb too much broth, leaving you with a stew-like dish.
Let the pot continue to boil for the necessary cook time of the noodles. With the frozen egg noodles, be sure to separate the block of frozen noodles as they cook to avoid getting one large clump of partly-cooked noodles.
Taste your soup. Add salt if you like, but I don’t find salt necessary.
Please let me know if you try this recipe. Leave a comment about your ideas for variants. They are always fun to read about.
Be well and be happy! God Bless You.
Traveling with Friends 