Last Friday Chris and I had a hot double date with some pals, and I made soup. Sounds kind of boring for company right? But oh no, it was a serious party in a pot.
Our friend Ross (who you may remember from this cool video) lost his shit over how flavourful the soup was. When I eventually told him what is actually in it, he freaked.
This soup is so insanely tasty, yet so insanely easy (and not easy like when people say “this recipe is so easy! First, roast a chicken”. WTF!? Roasting a chicken is not easy!), that I absolutely feel compelled to share the magic.
Courtney from A Life Aesthetic first introduced me to the soup, and she swears the secret is having the chicken on the bone. Nothing fancy – no intensive roasting method or rare spices – just plain old chicken on the bone.
So without any further ado, I am thrilled to share the world’s best healing, winter-y, comforting scrumptious hug-in-a-bowl: Chicken Noodle Soup for the Grown-Up Soul. Also, Michael Pollan would approve.
Ingredients:
– 1.5 – 2 lbs of chicken on the bone (breast, legs, whatever you prefer) – or to make vegetarian, replace the chicken with matzo balls!
– a few onions
– a few cloves of garlic
– a few carrots
– a few celery sticks
– a few potatoes
– herbs (I prefer rosemary, but Courtney says you can throw anything in – sage, thyme, whatever you got)
– water (or stock – Courtney cooks it for long enough that she just uses water, but sometimes I don’t have enough patience so I use a “better than bouillon” stock)
– orzo (or any kind of small pasta, if you’d like it)
– green onion (just for toppings)
Missing from this photo: garlic and herbs
Step 1: Throw in your onions with some olive oil for 4 or 5 minutes, then your chicken and garlic (salt the chicken now if you haven’t done so previously). Let this mixture juice and cook without stirring for 15 minutes (or till your chicken is browned).
Step 2: Add chopped celery and herbs, then cover chicken with water. Let cook for 1 hour (this is mainly to get the chicken to the point where it is falling off the bone. If you want to cook for more time, feel free. If you have less time, you can use stock instead of water and cook the chicken for less time, but just a warning that it won’t be falling off the bone).
Step 3: Add carrots and potatoes. Cover again with more water. Go nuts on adding herbs, dried or fresh, again. Let cook till carrots and potatoes are close to tender.
Step 4: Remove chicken on the bone from pot, and take meat off the bone (and discard the chicken skin). Put chicken back in soup, and at this time add the orzo (if you’d like!). Warning with the orzo, it expands a LOT and will soak up lots of your liquid, so if you want it super soupy, don’t add too much! Cook for another 10 minutes.
Step 5: Turn the heat off and let the soup rest for a few minutes and taste to make sure there is enough salt (if you didn’t use any stock, you most definitely need to salt heavily). Top with green onion, curl up on the couch or with loved ones and ENJOY!
Sorry this isn’t the best photo, I was really more concerned with eating this tastiness!
PS. This recipe is purposely “loose” so you can add your own interpretations to it. Use these guidelines as a base, but spice it up! Every time it will be different, and that is part of it’s charm.
Do you have a recipe that is so simple and delicious it blows peoples minds? Please share below!
