Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Made From Scratch

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I do not eat meat.  No poultry, beef, lamb, pork or otherwise.  And I recently gave up seafood because of reports about what the Fukishima disaster is doing to sea life.  Call me crazy but I do not want to eat a fish that has such terrible radiation poisoning that it is bleeding from its gills & eyes.  And there are so many other carcinogens we are exposed to every day over which we have no control – I just think avoiding seafood seems smart from now on.  Freshwater fish – I might still sample.  We shall see.

So – no – I do not eat chicken soup but I did back in the day.  And my badass boyfriend, Miles, exists on a nearly 100% animal protein diet.  He is here in LA this week & arrived with a terrible cold – so – I made him this soup.  Though I was not able to try it, it smells outrageously good & is truly easy.  The key is getting a cooked chicken.  Or roast your own but that adds a whole procedure that seems more work than it is worth.

The cooked chickens at Ralph’s were $7 and anemic-looking compared to the Flintstones-sized, ginormous $5 roasted chickens at Costco.  Having purchased the Costco chickens in the past for my dogs – I can also report that they are juicier & far less greasy than the Ralph’s jobby I picked up yesterday.  So – if you live near a Costco – get the chicken there.

Like lots of my recipes, the ratio of ingredients here is just a suggestion.  The size of your chicken will determine how much you need of the other things.  Yes, people.  Size matters.  So – if you have a glorified Cornish game hen-sized chicken – this ingredient list will work.  If you get the whopper chicken from Costco – you might want to ratchet up the veggie quantity.  Also – this is a very traditional chicken soup (because Miles is an old-school kinda guy) but you could add chopped kale or diced zucchini or whatever the fuck you want in it.  Go crazy.

Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup From Scratch

INGREDIENTS

1 roasted chicken

2 onions

10 celery stalks

1 bunch parsley

5 garlic cloves

4 bay leaves

5 carrots

Several sprigs each of fresh thyme & fresh sage

1/2 lb noodles ( I used egg noodles)

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Extra parsley as garnish

DIRECTIONS

In a large soup pot, add a glug or two of olive oil.  Quarter ONE onion & roughly chop FIVE celery stalks.  I added the base of the celery to my pot, too.  Cut the garlic cloves in half.  Saute the onion, celery & garlic for about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile – remove all the nice meat from the chicken & set aside.  If there is liquid in the COOKED chicken packaging (NEVER add raw chicken “juice” to anything!)  – feel free to add that to the stock.  Put everything else from the chicken (skin, bones, wings & icky bits – ALL of the rest) into the stock pot with the veggies.  Add the parsley, sage & thyme whole.  Add the bay leaves.  Add enough water to cover all the ingredients in at least an inch of water.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer for at least thirty minutes.  Get another large pot & put a colander over it.  Pour the stock through the colander & throw away all the bits the colander catches.  Return the fresh chicken stock to the stove. Dice the remaining onion & add it to the stock.  Add the reserved chicken pieces.  Dice the celery & add that.  Chop the carrots & add them.  Add the noodles.  Bring to a boil & simmer until the noodles are cooked & the veggies are tender.  If the soup needs more stock, just add water.  Add salt (at least 1 tsp – maybe as much as 3 or 4 – but TASTE IT after you add each quantity of salt).  Add pepper.  Serve it up with some more parsley & let the healing begin!!