Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Warming chicken noodle soup.  Now this is comfort food.  You won’t find this soup listed on a “super foods” list.  But it will make you feel good during the cold winter months.  IF you just happen to live in an Arctic belt.

Why is it that soup takes me two days to make?  I HATE it when someone says, “let’s do something simple like soup”.   Are you kidding me?  I obviously need other recipes that do not require one making their own stock, which IS delicious by the way.

I have served this soup for several years on Halloween.  I started to have several friends just on Halloween.  My daughter would get calls from boys asking to go trick or treating with her just so they could come over for chicken noodle soup.  Last year they were all in their first year of college and still managed to be around on Halloween for soup.  What will this year bring?

Remember you already have chicken stock made and in your refrigerator.  If you don’t here is the link:  Chicken Stock.  Pull the chicken stock out of the refrigerator and make sure you skim off any fat that may have hardened on the top.  Pour it into a large stock pot.

You will need one rib of celery, broken in half, an onion, 4 whole cloves, and one carrot peeled and broken in half.  Of course you can cut the celery and carrot.  I just break them and toss them in the pot.

Take those 4 cloves and stick them into the onion.

Toss in the celery…

…and the carrot…

…and the onion that is stuck with the cloves.

Place the stock pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer.  Cover the pot, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for at least 2 hours.

After two hours remove the lid and check to see if the vegetables are soft.  They should be because they have been simmering for 2 hours.

Just take a look at how clear and gorgeous the stock is.  Just bragging.

Here’s the weird part.  Remove the carrot, celery and onion and put in a blender.

I started pureeing the vegetables is this soup because when the kids were young they didn’t like chunks in anything!  So I pureed the vegetables and they didn’t know they were there.  They had so idea that I even used vegetables.  Oh, don’t tell the husband that never reads this blog…I don’t think that he knows my little secret yet! 

Add some of the chicken stock into the blender.

Slowly turn the blender on and puree.

I make sure that the stock is now smooth.  NO chunks.

We are now going to make a roux.  That is a combination of flour and butter.

In a large pot melt the butter.

Whisk the two together.  It’s ok if if browns a bit.  I like the nutty flavor of browned butter.

Pour all of the stock into the roux including the blended vegetables.

Stir until smooth and bring to a simmer.

Add 1 cup of heavy cream.

Stir.

You are REALLY going to have to season this mixtures.  If you remember, I didn’t add any salt to the stock while it was cooking.  I just kind of like to wait to season my food.  I hate it when I get food too salty. 

You will probably need to add at least 2 teaspoons of salt. 

Several grinds of black pepper.  I love fresh ground pepper.  I’m not fond of the canned stuff.  In fact I don’t even have a can of that stuff in my kitchen.  Nope!  No use for that stuff…not that I have found anyway.

TASTE the soup.  This is very important.  You need to know if the seasonings need to be adjusted.  You obviously can’t take out the salt once it’s in the soup, so start with a little and go from there.

Bring the soup to a low simmer.  It’s time to add the fresh Homemade Egg Noodles.   You will notice that I haven’t pre-cooked the noodles.  This isn’t necessary when they are fresh.  If you are using dried noodles, you will definitely need to cook them according the the package directions.

Gently stir.

Add about 2 cups of cut cooked chicken.  I saved this from the chicken stock that I made. 

I like to add the chicken right before serving.  After adding, gently stir.  I’ll tell you why.  If you don’t, the chicken will break up and you will have tiny shreds of chicken throughout the soup.  That doesn’t look so good.  So be gentle with your chicken.

Fresh herbs.  This is what makes the soup a bowl of heaven.  I like to add fresh thyme, rosemary and parsley.  Sometimes I use a pinch of dried thyme. 

The amounts are based on preference.  I had two tablespoons of parsley, two teaspoons of rosemary and thyme.

This was Tiffany’s favorite meal while growing up.  I knew I had succeeded as a culinary mom when she said, “Oh I love it when I get a bite of rosemary”.  YES!!!

Once again, GENTLY stir. 

At this point I don’t bring the soup to a full boil.  I just let it barely simmer.

This is a very rich, wholesome soup.  When I hear the words “comfort food”, this immediately pops into my head. 

Creamy chicken noodle soup.  Worth the effort.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

3 quarts Chicken Stock
1 carrot, peeled
1 celery rib
1 small onion
4 whole cloves
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Homemade Egg Noodles
2 cups cooked cubed chicken

In a large pot, add chicken broth, carrot, celery and onion that has been stuck with the 4 who cloves. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer for about 2 hours or until the vegetables are soft. Remove the carrot, celery and onion and place in a blender. Add 2 cups of the chicken stock and blend until smooth. Set aside.

In a large pot, melt butter. Whisk in flour. Pour in the remaining chicken stock and the blended vegetables. Stir until smooth. Bring the mixture back to a low simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add noodles and cooked chicken. Stir very gently. Add fresh herbs right before serving. Makes 6-8 servings

 
The husband that never reads this blog thinks my chicken noodle soup could win awards.  Ohhh, he is sweet even if he likes fake maple syrup and hates squash.
 
I’ll keep him.