It’s 50-degrees, pouring rain, and blowing a gale in Fairfield. As I sit and type, I keep thinking I’m hearing a the whir of a machine revving up outside, only to realize that the sound is the wind screaming through the trees. Do days like this accommodate anything other than soup? You’d have a hard time convincing me otherwise.
A stronghold of my childhood is my Grandma Leonard’s chicken noodle soup. A two day affair to make, we all have the fondest memories of sitting at her kitchen table as she carefully prepared us a bowl, melting the gelatinous broth on the stove before ladling it into a bowl of already cooked egg noodles. In college I was sick with the flu and needed that soup. I called my Grandma for the recipe, who gave me the steps over the phone. With a full blown fever, I went to the grocery to get everything I needed so that I could make it for the next day.
This is not that soup. I’m sorry. I never wrote the recipe down and have been sworn to secrecy. But you know what, so much of the magic in my grandma’s soup is the love that it comes with. Making chicken soup from scratch - even a quick one like this - takes heart. I think this recipe is the next best thing: a flavorful, comforting, classic chicken soup that can be made in a few hours rather than days. I served it to my girls with egg noodles and freshly baked bread with softened butter. I couldn’t help but beam as they slurped it up while the wind howled outside.
I used leftover rotisserie chicken we had in the fridge plus some extra legs and thighs to make the stock. I think making stock from chicken and veggie scraps is a great way to increase the sustainability of our meals, so there’s almost always a pot of chicken or vegetable stock simmering on the stove!
Rainy Day Chicken Noodle Soup
1 whole rotisserie chicken
1 small pack of raw chicken thighs or quarters
2 yellow onions
4 carrots
1 celery heart with greens + 3 ribs
2 bay leaves
3 springs of fresh rosemary
3 springs of fresh thyme
4-6 black peppercorns
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/2 tsp salt
Frozen peas and/or corn
Cooked egg noodles (or other soup noodle)
salt and pepper
1. Place the rotisserie chicken and raw pieces in a large dutch oven with 1 onion cut in half lengthwise, 1-2 carrots, celery heart, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Fill the pot with water until the chicken is just covered. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
2. After 2-3 hours, when the chicken is falling apart, the vegetables are breaking down, and the broth is rich in color, remove it from the heat and pour the contents into a large colander set atop a bowl big enough to hold all the broth, separating the broth from the contents. Set aside to cool a bit.
3. Dice the remaining onion and celery, and cut remaining the carrots into 1/4” thick semi-circles (you want them thick so they don’t get mushy).
4. Heat olive oil in the (now empty) dutch oven over medium heat. Add the vegetables and garlic. Sauté until the vegetables are fragrant and sweating. Pour in the chicken stock, adding the bay leaves and peppercorns back into the pot.
5. Pick through the colander to pull out the chicken meat and add it to the pot, along with herb sprigs. Simmer for another hour (at least). Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Place some noodles and frozen peas (and/or corn) in the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup over them. Serve with crusty bread and soft butter.
