Friday, September 12, 2008

Hurray for Comfort Food Season!

As summer winds down and the air turns crisp, we might get a little sad that we have to break out the long pants and actually wear socks for the first time in months! But then you remember all the wonderful meals ahead- I hereby declare it COMFORT FOOD SEASON! As many of you know, I just love to make soup! I have been known to make four or five soups on a Saturday afternoon! (that's way too many, by the way!!) My favorite is to make two pots of soup on the weekend and then have dinner/lunch options all week. I also love the classics such as Chicken Pot Pie, Pot Roast, Macaroni & Cheese and don't even get me started on Thanksgiving!! Throughout the fall- I will be posting my favorite comfort food recipes and hope that you comment back with some of yours. I unfortunately have been battling strep throat this week and nothing tastes better than Chicken and Noodles. It's really just my mom's version of chicken noodle soup but I always loved it growing up and still do! I have found an easy way to make this using just two bone-in chicken breasts which makes the proportions smaller which is nice when cooking for two. So here you go: the official toast to Comfort Food Season!

Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients:
2 split chicken breasts, bone-in with skin
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup chopped yellow onion (about half an onion)
1-2 carrots- chopped
1 carrot - cut in three large pieces
1 stalk celery- cut in three large pieces
Half yellow onion- cut in thirds
Egg Noodles
1 can chicken broth* see note below
Thyme - fresh or dried
Salt & Pepper
Butter (2 tablespoons or so)

Place the chicken breasts along with the large pieces of carrot, celery and onion in the bottom of a medium sized stockpot. Pour enough water to cover the chicken breasts. Add sprig of fresh thyme or if you're using dried thyme- use about 1/2 teaspoon. Bring to a boil and then cook on medium high for about 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove chicken and vegetables from stock and set chicken aside to cool. Return stock to a boil and then add egg noodles- because I cut this down- I use about 3/4 of a package of egg noodles and add can of chicken stock if needed*.

In the meantime, saute chopped celery, onion, carrots in butter (yes, butter- I suppose you could use olive oil if you're trying to be healthy but I'm telling you when you're sick- you want the goodness!!) Season vegetables with salt & pepper to taste. Saute until the carrots and celery are softened but still have some crunch.

Once chicken is cool enough to touch- discard skin and bone- and shred the chicken.

Add chicken and vegetables to the noodles and broth.

Let simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes to make sure vegetables and chicken are hot- then serve!

* you may need to add more chicken stock- which is why I list a can of chicken stock to the ingredient list- if you were to make a whole pot of this- you'd use a whole chicken and it would yield more broth. When you are just using essentially 1 whole chicken breast- you aren't going to get a ton of broth unless you made it really watery. It all depends on how many noodles you want- I tend to like mine more stew-like than soup-like so it's your call. You don't want to add water though because it will weaken your stock and your overall results.

2 comments:

Hillary said...

I'm sorry you're sick. :-( I hope this made you feel better -- it looks really yummy!

Katie said...

Yes! Thanks for posting the chicken noodle soup recipe! Don't worry, I'll still buy that cookbook I think you should publish and become famous for... even if I already have some of the recipes. :)