Chicken Noodle Soup

INGREDIENTS:

2 c chicken broth

1 T butter

1.5 oz onion

1 oz kale

2 oz green beans

1 carrot

1/2 celery stick

2 oz chicken thighs

1 sprig thyme

1 sage leaf

1 sprig oregano

salt and pepper to taste

For noodles:

1 egg

2/3 c flour

1/8 t salt

couple of cracks of pepper

yield: 2 servings

I woke up this morning to my daughter coughing and sneezing. Cold season=soup season. Hydration is key to getting over a cold. One of my favorite soups is the classic chicken noodle. I like to throw in extra veggies for added vitamins. Using homemade broth gives it a little more body due to the gelatin that's extracted from the bones when it's simmering. Store bought broth is fine too, but it's not going to have the same depth to it.

Start by prepping your veggies. I like to prep (cut) extra vegetables if I know that I'm going to be using them within a day or so, this cuts down on prep time for other meals considerably.

I like to keep the onion, carrot and celery separate from the kale and beans because I cook them a little bit before adding the greens.

I like to throw the butter (preferably the butter you saved from your roasted chicken) into a hot pan. When it melts, add your mirepoix (meer-pwah). The mirepoix is the mixture of onions, carrots and celery. Let the mirepoix sweat. Sweating onions and other vegetables basically just draws out the liquid and concentrates the flavor a little more. I like to get a little bit of caramelization on the onions before adding the stock. Oh- and sometimes I use stock and broth interchangably. Sorry for any confusion. Stock is when you roast bones and then add water and mirepoix, and broth is stock that's been enriched with the actual meat, instead of just bones. Make sense? If not, don't worry about it. Just know that if I write stock, most likely I'm talking about broth. Anyway... back to the food.

When you mirepoix starts to caramelize (starts to brown) add your broth, greens, beans, chicken and herbs. You can also add salt and pepper at this time.

Check out my ravioli page to see how to make the noodles. It's the same process. Put flour, salt and pepper in bowl and add an egg. Mix together until it begins to form a ball. Roll out and fold over 2 times (3 times for the ravioli). You don't really need to let it rest as long as pasta. You can, but it's not necessary. I don't really worry about making the noodles perfect. I like the rustic look.

Slice into noodles and place into soup. I normally just use my knife to transfer, but you can also use a metal spatula.

Once your noodles are in, cover and let your soup sit for about 5 minutes. You'll know your noodles are done because they'll float to the surface.

Taste your soup and add salt and pepper as needed before serving. Enjoy!