Chicken noodle soup

I've been trying to master a Jewish-style chicken soup for ages, but I just can't get it right. I've tried Lenny's from the Table Manners podcast. I've tried Lily Peebles' one. Anyway. I made a completely different soup from Smitten Kitchen, and loved everything about it except the rice. I particularly love piling on loads of herbs at the end, with a sprinkling of chili flakes. So I adapted this to be my chicken noodle soup. It's much simpler, there's no skimming involved, and I can easily freeze this one.

Ingredients

  • 2 tblsp olive oil
  • 2 large leeks, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 stick of celery, thinly sliced
  • 1 carrot, thinly sliced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 litre chicken stock (I buy the best quality ready made liquid stock concentrate)
  • 2 cups water
  • 500g boneless, skinless chicken breast (I'd buy thighs but I can't get them in Denmark unless I go to an actual butcher)
  • 100g medium egg noodles per person
  • Big handful chopped fresh herbs (parsley, chives, and dill are favorites here)
  • Lemon zest and juice
  • chili flakes

Method

  1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large stock pot. Add leeks, celery, and carrot, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring, until leeks have softened a bit, about 4 minutes.

  2. Add garlic and cook one minute more. Add stock, water, and whole chicken breasts and many grinds of black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover, simmering for 15 minutes, until chicken is very tender and cooked through.

  3. Remove chicken with tongs and set on a cutting board. Add noodles and return the heat to a low simmer, cover with lid, and cook for as long as it says on the noodle packet.

  4. Either slice the chicken into 1/2 cm slices, or cube it into bite-sized pieces and return to the soup to rewarm. Add the zest of one lemon, and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Adjust seasonings to taste, and add more lemon juice if you think it needs it.

  5. Using tongs, fish out the noodles and place them in bowls to serve. Ladle soup on top and finish with loads of herbs, and chili flakes.

Make sure there are no noodles hiding in the leftovers, and then freeze as normal.

References

Perlman, Deb (12 Mar 2020). Chicken, leek, and rice soup. Smitten Kitchen. https://smittenkitchen.com/2020/03/chicken-leek-and-rice-soup/

Tags

  • Recipe
  • Dinner
  • Soup
  • Easy