I am home today in a winding down blizzard. I was putting together Jim's favorite chicken soup and I thought that I should write down the recipe and doing it this way accomplishes two things.
The absolute hands down most delicious chicken soup that I have ever eaten was Jim's mothers. Legendary. I made it with her once and I know what went into the pot and still have never duplicated the taste. My recipe incorporates her basic premise and then I add a few tricks of my own. The result is good. Not as good as hers but I think that she would approve. The bonus-making this soup calls to mind happy memories of family living close, sitting around a big table sharing a meal, laughter of little children and the most precious image of my mother in law standing at her stove on Chickadee Lane and making her famous soup.
Chicken Noodle Soup
1 whole organic chicken
1 large package organic celery hearts,chopped,leaves too
1 large bag organic carrots chopped
1 large bunch flat leaf parsley chopped
1 head garlic cloves smashed and chopped
Several yellow onions chopped and one left whole with skin on to float in the pot
3 large bay leaves
Fine egg noodles
salt and pepper
Wash chicken and giblets. Cut chicken into pieces and place in large stock pot and cover with cold water. Drain and repeat a few times until water runs clear and then fill pot with cold water to about an inch from the top. Place on stove high heat until boiling. Reduce to simmer and skim off dirty foam. Halve the whole onion with skin and add to pot, add bay leaves. Cover and simmer on low.
In saute pan preferably NOT a non stick add a few tablespoons of olive oil and bring up to high heat. Add all of the vegetables parsley garlic etc. Sprinkle in 2 tsps kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Sweat the veggies until you get a light caramelization on the bottom of the pan. Do not burn the garlic! Add a few tablespoons of hot chicken water from the soup to deglaze pan. Add veggies to soup pot with chicken. Add 2 more tsps salt and more pepper. Stir with large wooden spoon. Cover and simmer several hours or until chicken just starts to fall off bone. Taste soup for seasoning. You will have to add more salt but do so slowly tasting after each addition. There is a fine line between not enough salt and too much. To taste for seasoning, place a few teaspoons of broth into a bowl, swirl around until soup cools, taste. Tasting boiling hot soup does not give you an accurate taste for seasoning plus you may burn your mouth, done that. Remove chicken pieces from pot and remove meat from bones. Remove onion halves , bay leaves, and giblets from soup,you will need a large slotted spoon to find them. Add chicken back to soup and cover pot. Meanwhile cook egg noodles as package directs and add a scoop to each persons bowl, add soup and eat.
Note-Jim's Mom used bouillon for flavor and color and although I think this was part of the deliciousness,I choose not to. I use the onion with the skin for this purpose. It gives the broth a rich color and adds flavor. Chicken soup purists will skim off the fat. Again I choose not to and neither did Jim's Mom. I use a higher quality bird to reduce all of that "dirty fat" and I like the broth to have that yellow tint. I cook the noodles separately so they don't get mushy. Fine egg noodles are a must if you want Arlene's authentic. Also try being creative with the veggies...root vegetables like say parsnips make a nice addition.
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