Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

Friday was not a good day. Thanks to the Air Force, our vacation plans got screwed up, Graham is leaving earlier than planned for his deployment, and I started feeling crappy. I got home from work, and all I wanted was a big bowl of homemade soup and a grilled cheese for dinner. I sent Graham out for a rotisserie chicken, since I had no chicken breasts thawed out, and started cooking as soon as I got home.

I didn't have a recipe, I added whatever I had on hand. Luckily, I make soups so often that I had everything that I felt was "essential" for chicken soup. I was really pleased with how this turned out. It took less than 30 minutes and I instantly felt better as soon as I started eating.

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 rotisserie chicken
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups of egg noodles
• 6 cups of chicken stock
• 2-3 T. of olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 t. of srirachia (optional)

Directions:

1. Remove the skin from the chicken and then remove the meat from the bones. Shred or chop the chicken & set aside. Discard the skin. 
2. In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil of medium high heat. When the oil is heated, add the onion, carrots and celery. Saute until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. 
3. Slowly add in the chicken stock, deglazing the bottom of the pan as you do so. 
4. Bring stock to a boil and add the egg noodles. Let the noodles cook for about 8-10 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the shredded (or chopped) chicken. Let simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
6. Season with salt & pepper, and serve.  

(Makes 8 servings)

This was a really delicious soup. I love making soups with egg noodles, because they actually hold up to the liquid. Regular pasta tends to get mushy & disintegrate, and orzo sucks up all the liquid and puffs up. This was perfect, and three days later, the noodles still were the same consistency they had the first night we ate it. It also needed VERY little salt & pepper. I was out of stock, so I added these Knorr Homestyle Chicken Stock packets to plain water. The rotisserie chicken also had way more flavor than regular chicken breasts. This soup was so flavorful and definitely a breeze to make!