Bring You Back from the Dead Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

So I have a dentist appointment tomorrow and I started thinking of what to make that would work on some sore teeth.  So I figured I'd make some of my chicken soup tomorrow, and then Caitlin said she wanted soup tonight, completely separately from my desire to make it tomorrow.  Weird huh?  Well, my chicken soup recipe makes enough to last a week, so making it tonight is as good as making it tomorrow, and she gets to take it for lunch, so double bonus!

Of course, it does take a little while to make, so Caitlin's been bouncing off the walls waiting to get her mitts on a fresh bowl (or two. . . ).  This is a good recipe for this week though: the weather's starting to change and get colder (which I love), we're both sore as crap from soccer (which isn't so great) and I've got the dentist, so I'll need something soft to slurp down with my numbed butter teeth.  I suppose it's only a matter of time until one of us gets sick again too, so hopefully the soup will ward off disease as long as possible.

Here's what you'll need:

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

128 oz Chicken Stock
4 or 5 Carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 Medium (baseball sized) Red Onion, diced
1 Package of Celery Hearts chopped into 1/2 inch slices
2 Boneless Chicken Breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2-3 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Crushed Rosemary
2 Tbsp Dried Thyme
2 Tbsp Diced Garlic
Handful Fresh Parsley finely chopped
1/2 Cup White Wine
Freshly Ground Pepper and Salt
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
12 to 16 oz Package Egg Noodles

Start off by pouring all the chicken stock and the kosher salt into a large (8qt or bigger) stock pot on the stove on medium-high heat.  Start a saucepan on high with a steamer insert and while the water is heating up peel and chop the carrots and add to the steamer and cover.  Add the wine to a large saute pan and heat on medium-high heat.  While the wine is heating up, quickly dice the red onion and add to the saute pan.  While the onions are cooking, chop the celery and add to the chicken stock, then chop the chicken.  Stir the onions and let the wine reduce by about one half and then dump the onions and wine into the stock.

Return the saute pan to heat and add the oil and the chicken and stir constantly.  Sprinkle on some salt and pepper onto the chicken, enough to evenly cover all the pieces and then add in the garlic, thyme and rosemary and continue stirring for another minute or two to evenly brown the chicken and coat the pieces with spice, then add to the stock pot.  Take the carrots out of the teamer and add them to the stock pot as well and lower the heat to medium-low.  In a large saucepan (or a small stock pot) boil water and add in the noodles.  Let the noodles cook until soft, about 5 or 6 minutes and then drain and rinse and add to the stock pot.

It's a good tip when making soup with egg noodles to boil them in water separately from the soup, because when you boil the noodles, they soak up a little of the liquid, but also sometimes release a little bit of the flour, so if you boil them in your soup stock, you'll lose some stock softening the noodles, and possibly get a bunch of flour that will ruin your soup's stock with a cloudy, nasty noodle funk.

So, boil them separately, drain and rinse the noodles and add to the stock pot and let the whole thing simmer covered together for 5 or 10 minutes at least and then serve!  It tastes great with some crusty french bread or dinner rolls and they'll help you sop up the delicious broth.

Chicken Soup (Chinese Stir-fry version)

Caitlin had to go to the dentist today for a filling so I knew she'd be a bit sore, and she hasn't been feeling too great lately, so it seemed like chicken soup would kill 2 birds with 1 stone.  I ran to the store and picked up what I needed and went to town.  I put a twist it this time by cooking the chicken chinese stir-fry style in peanut oil with ginger and scallions.  I think it's better than my regular All American Chicken Soup.  Here's what you'll need:

Chicken Soup (Chinese Stir-fry Version)
96oz Chicken Stock
4-5 Carrots Cut into 1/2" cubes
1 Medium Red Onion Diced
1 Bunch Celery Sliced into 1/4" slices
2-3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut into 1/2" cubes)
1 Bunch Minced Scallions (1/3 to 1/2 C)
3 tbsp Ginger paste or minced Ginger
2 tbsp dried chopped Rosemary (the kind from the jar, you don't have to chop your own)
Handful of Plain Parsley Chopped
12oz bag of Egg Noodles
1/4 C Mirin (Rice Wine from the Asian cooking section)
1/4 C Peanut Oil

Start off by boiling 2-3 quarts of water and 1 tbsp salt in a large stock pot.  Dump in the noodles and boil while you chop the carrots, celery, onion, ginger (if not using the paste), scallions and chicken breasts.  Put the celery and carrots together, and the ginger and scallions together and leave the onion in a separate container.  Once the noodles are done, pour into a colander and rinse the noodles and set aside. Pour the stock in the pot and put back on the burner on medium high heat and add in the celery, carrots and rosemary.

Grab a Wok and heat on medium-high heat with the peanut oil for a few minutes, then add in the ginger/scallion combo.  Stir occasionally for a minute or two and then carefully add in the chicken.  Stir-fry until browned by constantly moving and flipping the mixture in the wok.  Once the chicken has been browned, add it to the stock pot, and be sure to scrape all the oil and ginger and scallions with it into the soup!  Put the wok back on the burner and add in the onions and the mirin and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to soften up and brown a little, then add that to the stock pot.  Lower the temperature to medium-low heat (if at any point it begins a rolling boil, then lower the heat at that time).  Add in the set-aside noodles and the chopped parsley and cover and let simmer for another 15-20 minutes, then remove from heat and serve!