Chicken noodle soup

Funny you should ask.  No practical advice just now, but maybe some inspiration.  For lunch today:  Chicken soup with fish and two kinds of noodles (wheat and thin rice - like for pho), accompanied by little plates of pork kidneys, teu chow wonton, and fish balls with chili/dried-shrimp sate for dipping.

The point being, you can drag chicken noodle soup in nearly any direction and just about as far as you can imagine.

When I think of the many really good home cooks of my virtual acquaintance, Koukouvagia, yours is one of the first names to come to mind. 

Don't settle,

BDL

 

I sweat mirepoix, leaving the carrots in slices instead of minced, in chicken fat or olive oil. Add the meat shredded off the chicken, toss briefly, and pour in the stock. Bring to a strong simmer, correct seasoning. Add a pile of those loose dry egg noodles that come in bags, cook until still quite firm, then shut off the heat and sprinkle with fresh dill. Wait 5 minutes, then serve. I generally grind a bunch of pepper on the top of my own bowl, but my kids have fits if I use more than a teeny dash while cooking, so I don't and they adore it.

Instead of the noodles, use fully-cooked matzoh balls and you've got matzoh ball soup. My kids REALLY love that: when my son was 2, he ate a gigantic matzoh ball at the 2d Avenue Deli, must have been about half the size of his head, and then asked very politely if he could have another one. They gave him a handful of rugelach instead, which he thought an excellent trade.

 

    Tis the season for soup!  We almost made chili at home today, but I was watching One Plate at a Time and we decided on Mexican (go figure).  The chili will have to wait /img/vbsmilies/smilies//smile.gif

   For regular chicken noodle soup, I seat the mirepoix, then add seasonings (I usually add thyme, salt and pepper).   Add your chicken stock, couple of bay leaves and simmer.  If I have a good chicken stock I'll reserve my  precooked (usually roasted) chicken for the last 45 minutes of cooking.  The soup will have enough chicken flavor because of the chicken stock and I don't see a point in simmering the flavor out of more chicken.   I like to add fresh parsley at the end and adjust salt levels.  

   For noodles I like to make a homemade egg noodles.  They're fast and easy.  For chicken noodle soup I don't even get the pasta machine out, I just roll it out with a rolling pin until it's about 3/16" then I just cut rustic noddles with my pizza cutter (hey, I'm lazy)

   Most times that's it.  Nothing fancy.  Other times I try to get ethnic...I love pho!

  dan

 

I prefer adding pre-cooked chicken towards the end.

In additional to the usual onions, carrots and celery I often add some grilled corn kernels for additional flavor.

Noodles, too, get cooked separately, then added just to warm through.

 

     I use the same recipe as I do for pasta, except I don't work the dough nearly as much...or as thin.  After I cook the chicken noodle noodles, I strain them and add them to a separate bowl that I filled with a little bit of warmed broth.  Then just add however many noodles you would like to the bowl...and the noodles are kept separate.

 

BDL, who did you tick off?  kidneys and balls -- someone hates you /img/vbsmilies/smilies//smile.gif
 

 

Sounds comfortingly, delicious. 

Next time you're combining sweated aromatics with tomato paste, try browning the paste in the same pan after the aromatics are done. (It's called a pincage in French.)  You'll not only get better tasting aromatics and a better tasting paste, you'll also develop a little tomato fond in the pan. 

Then use some of your stock to deglaze the pan to make sure you get all the good stuff into your soup. 

BTW, the chicken/fish soup at Mien Nghia was great, not to mention all the great sides.

BDL