Week 47 - Perfect Timing

In the freezing cold temperatures we've been having, I just can't stop making soups. Warm soup, warm bread and awesome left overs: it's a winning combination.

This soup almost didn't make it. Thankfully Brian convinced me to start working on it WELL before we were hungry because, as it turned out, when I was 90% of the way done with it, our power completely cut out. The good news was that all of the potential food-poisoning ingredients were already cooked (I'm talking about you, chicken) and Brian already had the wood stove nice and hot so we actually set the pot right on the wood stove to keep enough heat flowing to finish it off.

In the end this soup turned out to be delicious. I left off the Parmesan but added and the heavy cream and I think it would be just as flavorful without either. The only real trouble I had with it was the step where it tells you to take out all of the chopped onion, I wasn't quite sure how to do that. You could probably skim it all out with a slotted spoon but much of the spice is floating on top of the stock along with the onion so I think a lot of your herbs would come out, as well. So we just left the onion in and I don't think it did any lasting damage.

THE LADY'S CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Source: pauladeen.com

Stock: 4 bay leaves - 3 chicken bouillon cubes - 1 onion, peeled and diced - 1 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning - 3 cloves garlic, minced - 2 1/2-3 lb. fryer chicken, cut up - 1/2 - 2 tsp. Italian seasoning - 3 1/2 quart water - salt and pepper to taste

For Step 2: 2 C. sliced carrots - 2 C. sliced celery, with leafy green tops - 2 1/2 C. uncooked egg noodles - 3 T. chopped fresh parsley - 1 C. grated Parmesan cheese (optional) - 3/4 C. heavy cream (optional) - 1/3 C. cooking sherry - 1 C. sliced mushrooms - Fresh parsley - 2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary - salt and pepper to taste - crusty french bread, for serving

For the stock: Add all ingredients to a soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35-45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin and cartilage. Set chicken aside.

For the soup: Bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.