The cast of characters: A whole fryer chicken, carrot, celery, onion (optional; I didn’t use it)…
And all of this business. I actually prefer using dried parsley flakes for this soup. One of the few circ*mstances where fresh isn’t necessarily preferred.
Now. You can certainly make your own noodles. They’re a cinch. If that’s the way you want to go, just cut them shorter than these if you do take this purely homemade route.
But.
But here’s where the “homemade” part of this recipe is in finger quotes, because I’m going to give you permission to use these. Let me tell you, my friends, if you haven’t ever used Reames frozen egg noodles, you’re missing out on one of the best store-bought, prepackaged foods there is.
Ingredients: flour, water, and eggs. That’s it.
I’ve made my own noodles, and I’ve used Reames. And I’d serve Reames to guests every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
***This is not a paid advertisem*nt for Reames Egg Noodles, for Lord’s sake.***
To my utter discontent, however, Reames recently changed their packaging. I hate it when products change their packaging; it makes me feel forlorn and lonesome, and I feel a sense of loss for the old look.
But they taste the same. And that’s a very, very good thing.
Okay! Let’s get the party started. Throw the chicken pieces into a pot.
Cover the chicken with about 4 quarts of water…
And bring the pot to a boil.
When the water comes to a boil, turn the heat to low. Simmer the chicken for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the chicken from the pot with a slotted spoon. Keep the broth simmering on low.
Grab a couple of forks…
And use the forks to pull the meat off the bones. It should pretty much be done; if there’s a little pink or red left, don’t worry—it’s going back in the pot later.
Continue with all the chicken pieces, pulling as much of the meat off the bones as you can, slightly shredding the meat in the process. Cover the meat and set aside or stick in the fridge.
As you remove the meat, return the bones to the broth.
Simmer the bones for 45 minutes on low (you can be more thorough getting the meat off than I was. Sorry. Lazy.)
While the bones are simmering, dice up some carrots.
Lop off the tips…
Then cut them in half, lengthwise.
Lay them all with the cut side down…
And cut each half in three long slices.
Then slice across the carrots to create a dice.
Easy as pie! I like to keep the dice pretty large because:
a) I love cooked carrots
and
b) This makes it easier for those who don’t like cooked carrots to pick them out and pipe down
Dice up some celery, too. And include some of the inner stalks with the pretty leaves. That’s my favorite part.
You can also include a little diced onion, but I like to buck the rules of mirepoix and just go with carrots and celery.
I’m a rebel that way.
Remove the bones from the broth with a slotted spoon, making sure to get any small bones that might have detached. Then throw the carrots and celery into the pot.
Then use your freaky pink alien hand to add the salt.
Next, add turmeric. It adds flavor and color, color, color.
I’ve been on a real turmeric kick lately. Try it sometime! It’s magical.
Now add ground white pepper. I added quite a bit and it made the dish a little bit peppery/spicy, which we loved. But start sparingly and add more as you like. Also add in the ground thyme, and some of the chicken base if you’d like a little more intense chicken flavor.
But it really shouldn’t need it.
Finally, add the parsley flakes.
Stir this together and let it simmer for another ten minutes, just to let the flavors come together a bit.
Now grab a package of egg noodles. Crank up the heat to compensate for the coldness of the noodles.
Dump ’em right on in.
Stir to separate all the noodles.
Now throw in the chicken!
It’s starting to get real here, folks.
Simmer this on medium-low for eight to ten minutes.
Yum.
Now, ten minutes later, this is a delicious, wonderful, scrumptious, hearty chicken noodle soup. Just taste and check the seasonings and serve it in this state if you like.
But that’s not what I’m going for here.
What I’m going for is thick, beautiful chicken and noodles. Add some water to a little flour…
Stir it together until smooth…
And pour it into the pot…
Let it simmer for five additional minutes, or until the broth thickens. Feel free to add a little more flour/water if needed, or if it gets too thick, add a little water.
Mmmm. You know you’re about to eat something yummy when the sides of the pot look like this.
And when the contents of the pot look like this.
Oh dear. This is comfort food. This is home.
This is what happens…
When my daughter sticks her spoon in the pot while I’m trying to take photos.
I bring out The Claw.
And The Claw scratches and squeezes until the twelve-year-old punk whimpers and runs away.
And awww—look how cute! Matching mother-daughter alien hands!
Look. It’s a photography thing. Exposure and all that stuff. In order to properly expose the darker contents of the pot, my hand is always pink and freaky and bright white.
I’ll cover it sometime on Pioneer Woman Photography. It’s too painful for me to discuss here.
And anyway, I let her come back and have a bite.
I charged her five bucks, though.
And then I went ahead and took a bite.
And at that brief moment in time, everything was right in the world.
Enjoy this! It’s what life is all about.
