ChiClone Chicken Noodle Soup

So as you may have heard today, we are having some crazy weather here in the Chicagoland area, the local weathermen are dubbing it "The ChiClone".  Fifty mile-per-hour winds and heavy, heavy rain kept Maggie and I inside all afternoon.  At times, I was worried we were going to end up in Oz with Dorothy and the Tin Man, but we made it to the dinner hour with house intact.

Weather like this makes we want to hunker down and gorge on ridiculous amounts of carbohydrates.  Since I already polished off the cider doughnuts I picked up yesterday at the pumpkin patch, I decided to whip up some Chicken Noodle Soup and crusty bread for dinner.

You are going to love this recipe!  It's just like the Chicken Noodle Soup your mother makes, but without all of the work.  My own mother still makes homemade noodles from scratch.  Whatever.  She also drank copious amounts of wine and bowled during her ninth month of her pregnancy with me.  When you know better, you do better, right?  So "know better" yourself right over to the frozen food section of your favorite grocery store and pick up some frozen egg noodles.  There are some really great-tasting brands out there and I swear no one will know the difference. 

Chicken Noodle Soup
Makes 6 - 8 servings

Ingredients:

1/2         lb.  cooked, shredded chicken

6            cups chicken broth

12 oz.    frozen egg noodles

1 tsp.     dried parsley

1            bay leaf

1/4 tsp.  thyme   

1/2 tsp.  black pepper

1 cup     chopped onion

1 cup     chopped celery

1 cup     chopped carrots

1 cup     heavy cream

4 T.        butter

1/4 cup  flour

Bring chicken broth to a boil with bay leaf.  Add the noodles and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Stir broth often so noodles don't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add the dried parsley, thyme, black pepper and vegetables.  Simmer for 10 minutes until noodles and vegetables are tender.

Melt butter in saucepan, add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add heavy cream to broth/noodle mixture.  Bring back to a low boil.  Add the flour mixture, cook and stir until thickened, about two to three minutes. 

Add the cooked chicken.  Stir and heat through.

**Tips and tricks:  This is a great recipe for leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken from the deli.  Once again, I used my trusty chicken bouillon in lieu of chicken broth.  You can buy it in powdered form too, so you don't have to unwrap all of those pesky little cubes.  When I am making this for the kids, I omit the onions altogether so I don't get any complaints.  I also use half-and-half in lieu of the heavy cream just to keep the caloric content down a bit...just so I can have extra bread instead!  ;)  I really like to use Reames Frozen Egg Noodles.  I am not sure if that is a regional brand or not, but I think they taste the closest to my mother's homemade noodles.  Check out their website for a coupon too! 

 

 

Why yes, I do take requests...

as long as karaoke is not involved.  I gave that all up a long time ago with my mall bangs, keggers and acid-washed jeans.  I would be remiss if I didn't give a big shout out to my Copacabana back-up singers though!  Hey girls!  :)

Anyhoo, my friend Michele e-mailed me this week looking for my Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipe.  I was going to just e-mail it back when she reminded me that I now have my very own fancy schmancy soup blog.  Some recipes should just be shared with the world.  This is one of them.  No joke.

So this is my own personal take on Panera's Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup.  I made at least 10 versions of this soup before I got it exactly the way I wanted it.  Now it is one of my Top 5 favorite foods of all time, coming in only slightly behind the Totino's Pizza Roll.  Don't be intimidated by my sophisticated and discriminating palate either, I promise you will love this recipe too.


Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Makes 6 - 8 servings

Ingredients:

1/2    cup chopped onion

1/2    cup chopped celery

1/2    cup chopped carrots

Olive Oil

4       cups chicken broth

2       cups water

2       cooked, boneless chicken breast halves, shredded

1       package quick cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet

1/2    teaspoon salt

1/2    teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4    cup all-purpose flour

1/2    cup butter

2       cups heavy cream

In a small saucepan, saute chopped vegetables in a bit of olive oil on low heat until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.  Put aside.

In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water and chicken. Bring just to boiling, stir in rice while reserving the seasoning packet. Cover and remove from heat.

In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in contents of seasoning packet until mixture is bubbly. Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by a couple of tablespoons at a time forming a roux. Whisk in cream, a little bit at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened for about 5 minutes.

Stir cream mixture into broth and rice and add in your sauted vegetables. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.

**Tips and tricks:  This is a great recipe for leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken from the deli.  I prefer Uncle Ben's Long Grain Wild Rice for this recipe, I think the seasoning is the best hands down.  Roux is just a fancy French word for "pasty-like stuff made from flour and butter".  It's basically the thickening agent for the soup.  Your roux should be the consistency of prepared brownie mix.  Please note, it doesn't taste as good as brownie mix...so don't try it plain out of the pot.  Blech.  In an effort to be more health-conscious, I often subsitute half-and-half , 2% milk or a combination of the two in lieu of heavy cream.  My preferred combo is 1 cup half-and-half and 1 cup of milk.  Totally personal preference.