Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe will have everyone in your family thinking you're a super chef! It's delicious!
It is also labor intensive, so if you don't have a lot of time to make it, you can use a box broth and skip right to the Soup section in the instructions.

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
Serves 4 to 5 people

Broth:
3 lbs chicken thigh, skin on, bone in.
7 pints water
3 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 small onion, quartered
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
2 sprigs thyme (optional)





1. In a large thick-bottom pot, combine the chicken, chopped carrots and celery, onion, peppercorns, garlic, herbs, and water.

2. Bring just to a boil, cover partially and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Occasionally skimming off any unwanted fat and foam.

You can use a spoon (like I did here) or you can use a fine mesh skimming spoon (you can buy one here on Amazon and I know Wal-Mart also carries them).

3. Transfer chicken to a plate or cutting board. Remove the skin and discard.

4. Pull the meat off the bones and cut or shred into bite size pieces.

 

(If you are going to use your hands, let the chicken cool before doing this step.) :)

5. Return bones to the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.

6. Strain the broth through a small-holed strainer into another pot (if you have one; if not you can strain it into a large bowl, clean and use the same pot. Less dishes! Yay!) Discard the bones and veggies/herbs. Skim off any fat and season to your liking with salt.

7. Return the broth to the heat and boil until reduced to 2 1/2 quarts, about 30 minutes.


Soup:
2 medium carrots, peeled, cut diagonally
2 medium stalks celery, peeled, cut diagonally
1/2 lb noodles (I just used cut spaghetti)
   salt, as needed
   cooked chicken
2 Tbsp flat-leaf parsley, leaves only (optional)
1 sprig dill, chopped (optional)
If you're not making the broth: 2 1/2 to 3 quarts chicken broth










8. Add the sliced carrots and celery to the broth, cover and simmer until just tender, about 12 minutes.

9. In a saucepan, bring salted water to a boil and cook the noodles to al dente and drain.
(You can also par-cook them in the water and then finish them in the broth. Just make sure you rinse them before putting them in the broth.)

10. Add the noodles, chicken, and any other seasonings or herbs to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste.

Serve hot.


And really, you can just have fun with it! Change up some of the spices/herbs, add peas right before you serve it, or use baby carrots instead of larger ones. :)
Again, it takes time to make the broth, but the end result is very tasty! If you don't have time to make this just any ol' day of the week, you can make this a special occasion dinner for when company is over.

Keep coming back for more recipes, tips, tricks, and stories!

Have a great day and bon appetit!

Dishes, Dishes, and More Dishes!

Holy cow.

I did my first paid shift in the dish pit last Saturday night (1/04/14) at Le Bouillon and I gotta say: I give mad props to all dish washers everywhere!

You would think that it was the easiest job out there... I mean, come on! All you have to do is put all the dishes into the machine, right?

WRONG!

At Le Bouillon (and most other restaurants) it is much more than that! You not only have to rinse and run the dishes through the washer, but you also have to listen for and be ready to run a dish to a chef (if it's not already in the kitchen) who calls for it, you have to continually check the big containers in the kitchen and empty them of all dirty pots and pans, you have to put the clean dishes back in the kitchen, and (in this particular establishment) you have to plate and finish the desserts!

Don't get me wrong, I really want this job. It was just a little intimidating to be shoved into it with no training, no walk-through of the kitchen, and it being a Saturday night to boot!

But I have learned so far that you have to treat it just like any other station in the kitchen: work clean, work fast, and work hard. I would say that keeping it organized is key, but there are so many "key"s that you can't pin one to be the most important...

Some of the many keys of the dish pit:
Keep it organized
Keep a pace (a fast one)
Keep moving
Keep the washer going constantly (you don't EVER want it to be still)
Keep rinsing
Learn what is high-priority
Get a system down
Don't take any yelling personally
If you have to, Step outside for a breather
NEVER mix up personals

The list could go on. I felt like I should have been sitting there with some paper and take notes on what all should be "done first".

Needless to say, it was crazy my first night. And the only reason I got out of there by 12:30 am was because a couple people stayed to help (but getting a chunk sliced out of my finger by an oyster fork and then bleeding through 6 Band-aids and it taking a good 10 minutes before I got it under control didn't help my situation either....).

All that, plus having a class that same morning at 8 am, totals up to being 14 hours on my feet (with an hour of rest in between). Let's just say that my feet were REALLY sore...

My advice: Don't go into a dish pit job thinking it will be easy! Or any job for that matter! Because most of the time, it won't be.
My other piece of advice: Never give up! Just because it's not an easy job or you don't think you can do it, doesn't mean giving up will solve the problem. Work it out. Ask for help. The earlier you ask, the quicker you can adapt and change.

Well, that's all for now. It can only go up from here, right?

~Kayla