Bet you thought I didn’t even like soup anymore! During the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, I did make my very honed chili recipe, which I meant to type up and send out, but that last week of the year isn’t really a time to accomplish anything. I will definitely make it again, and when I do, I will share it with you.
What I have for you today is a lil chicken noodle soup riff, which came about because I had some friends over on Sunday night for roast chicken. There were just enough of us (six), that I felt like I had to roast two chickens, so I had two chicken carcasses to deal with on Monday! For having people over, I roasted the chickens with a butter and hot sauce glaze (Tapatio, not Frank’s, so I feel weird calling it buffalo style), so I was very curious if the resulting chicken stock would be spicy. I tossed all the bones in with a chunked onion, the leftover celery and carrots from the crudités, garlic, ginger slices, bay leaves, peppercorns, and some salt. Simmered, strained, and refrigerated for tonight’s soup preparation.
In order to actually finish and send this soupletter, I’m typing this now while the soup its simmering. I am really going back and forth about whether to cook the noodles I had in the soup itself, and in the end, laziness is going to win. I will report back on that. I also have been vibing hard with root vegetables, so I put diced parsnip in this soup. I might also add a can of chickpeas or white beans (I haven’t checked to see what I actually have yet) if I feel like the soup needs a little more heft. I also debated on adding some finely chopped cabbage or some leftover bok choy I have, but so far I haven’t done either. Again, let’s see in the next paragraph how everything eventually goes down.
[1 hour later]
I did add chickpeas! I can also report that the stock had a tiny bit of spice to it, but more like red pepper flakes in pasta level heat. Half a chili pepper symbol, perhaps. I also know I made a mistake by adding the noodles uncooked to the soup. It was delicious tonight but the leftovers are going to be so soggy. I am however, going to talk you through making it that way. No measurements here because soup is so flexible and soup is best when made from the heart.
Ingredients
olive oil
leek
celery
garlic
carrot, parsnip, or other root vegetables
sturdy herbs (rosemary, thyme, bay leaves)
parmesan rind if you’ve got it
chicken broth
leftover chicken
can of beans (white or garbanzo preferred)
egg noodles
preserved lemon, tender herbs
Add a glue of olive oil to a dutch oven and then saute leek and celery. After they soften, add garlic and let saute til fragrant, about a minute.
Add your diced root vegetables, and salt. Let saute for a few minutes, then add your chicken broth and let come up to a simmer. Add your sturdy herbs and parmesan rind, then simmer and let everything meld for 15-20 minutes until the root veg are softened.
Add the leftover chicken and beans, and then assess whether you need to add more broth for cooking the noodles (they will absorb liquid). If so, add more water or broth and bring up to a simmer. Add noodles and let simmer for 5 or so minutes. Taste a noodle. Best to pull the soup off the heat when the noodles are still very al dente because they will continue to soften. Also use that taste to decide if you need more salt.
Stir in preserved lemon (or squeeze of lemon), and tender herbs. Eat.