Back in August I was feeling a little on the sniffly, sore-throat, swollen-gland side, so naturally I wanted some soothing comfort food. I emailed my mom asking for her chicken noodle soup recipe I loved growing up, expecting it to be an easy, throw-together kind of recipe.

Oh how wrong I was.

I had no idea my mom’s (well, grandma’s) recipe entailed making your own stock, cooling it overnight, cooking more vegetables the next day, cooking the egg noodles, etc. For an average weekend this would be no big deal, but the idea of doing all that work feverish and sick was just a big no. So the email sat dormant, until I realized I would be cooking my favorite roast chicken and thus have the carcass to make stock (bing!). Since I usually eat a leg and a little breast when I roast a whole chicken, and then do whatever with the leftovers, it felt like the perfect opportunity to eat a bit of roast chicken, and then use the rest of the delicious meat (plus the carcass) to make the ultimate chicken noodle soup.

Some people would call the list of ingredients and recipe pretty pedestrian – but as the saying goes, simplicity is the sign of perfection. The flavor of the stock is superb, and cooking the vegetables separately the next day really adds a nice layer. Although my mom has always served egg noodles with her soup, you can really use any short pasta. Either way, this dish is simple, but time consuming – something I find in most soups I love.

Stock veg!

About to simmer…

Many, many hours later.

Lifeblood.

Mirepoix, sauteed.

Eat your heart out, Campbells.

Grandma would be proud.

—

Grandma Esther’s Chicken Noodle Soup

People find making chicken stock very daunting, but trust me – it’s one of the easiest things you’ll ever do.

Serves 6-7

Ingredients

To make the stock:

• One 3-4 lb roaster/fryer chicken carcass, including the skin (or one 3-4 lb whole roaster/fryer chicken, rinsed)
• 1 large yellow (not sweet) onion, cut into quarters
• 2-3 celery stalks with tops left on, roughly chopped
• 1 large carrot, roughly chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 10 whole peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

To make the soup:

• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 medium yellow (not sweet) onion, chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced fairly thin
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt
• pepper
• a dash of dried thyme
• 8 oz egg noodles

Directions

1.) The day before you want to enjoy the soup, make the stock. In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, combine all the stock ingredients and pour about 10-12 cups water to cover (add a little more if your chicken isn’t submerged completely). Bring to a boil and skim off the scum (floating fat raft – whee!) and then turn down to a very low simmer (either low or 1-2 on your stove knob). Cook for 4-5 hours. You want the flavor to really develop, but you don’t want it to boil and reduce too much. Once ready, remove from the heat, and strain the stock. Discard the veggies, and if you cooked a whole chicken, set the chicken aside to cool.

2.) Let the stock cool covered overnight or for at least 8 hours. If you used a whole chicken, pull all the meat from the bird in bite-size pieces, and store in the fridge until the next day. Save and freeze the carcass to make your next batch of stock. (Note: my mom uses almost only white meat for the soup, but I love dark meat and happily add it to mine.)

3.) Make your noodles the night before as well. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the egg noodles until very al dente – they will cook a little more in the broth, trust me. Drain and rinse with cold water (to stop the cooking process) and store in a container, refrigerated, until the next day.

4.) Once the stock has cooled overnight, skim most of the accumulated fat from the top (leaving a little for flavor). Return to the stove and heat over medium-high heat.

5.) While the stock heats up, cook the vegetables. In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat and then add the onion, carrot, and celery. Season to taste and sprinkle with a bit of dried thyme. Saute the veggies over medium heat for 8-10 minutes until they’re cooked, but still have a bit of a bite to them (al dente).

6.) Once the stock is hot, add the veggies and pulled chicken meat. Let everything come up to an almost-simmer. We always leave the noodles out and let everyone add as much (or little) noodles as they like. Keeping the noodles out also prevents them from becoming mushy from sitting in the broth too long.

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