Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup – Base Recipe from Consumer Reports, Modified by Ron
| Ingredients: | 1 chicken , with skin and bone 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots or onions 4 quarts of ready-to-serve chicken broth Swanson Brand 1/2 cup chopped celery sliced thin 1/2 cup of carrots chopped up 1 1/4 teaspoons salt Pinch black pepper 16 ounce cup of medium-width egg noodles or 16 ounces of ORZO’s |
| Directions: | Place chicken, skin side down, in preheated (medium heat) large sauce pot. Brown slightly–long enough to render out some chicken fat (approximately 3 minutes). Remove chicken. Reduce heat to low. Add shallots or onions. Stir briefly (1 to 2 minutes). Soften the onion, Do not brown. Return chicken to pot add 4 quarts of Swanson chicken broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer or slow boil and cook 30-60 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked and tender. Remove chicken. Cool. Discard bones and skin. Shred chicken meat and return meat to pot. Add vegetables and egg noodles and return the soup to a boil. Lower to a simmer. You want the vegetables to be cooked, but not mushy so do not overcook, about 15 minutes. If using ORZOs, cook them first in a separate pan for about 20 minutes and drain prior to adding to the mixture. You want the noodles done, but not mushy so do not overcook. When added to the pot of broth and chicken, the ORZOs will swell up as they soak up the juice. Have a can or two extra of Swanson chicken broth to make it a little more soupy if desired. It gets thick with the ORZOs. |
| Notes: | Yields approximately 16 cups. The volume indicated below is for a large pot of soup. NOTE #1 If you like a thick soup, use ORZO’s as they have a lot of starch and it thickens the soup. If you use ORZOs, the soup will thicken as it cools. For the next day, you may need to add a 14.5 oz can of chicken broth to thin it out. NOTE #2. If you like a Orzos and desire a medium thickness to your soup, boil the orzos in a separate dish for 20 minutes. Drain most of the water off ( you can see the starchy water) then add the cooked orzos to your soup. The starch in the orzos will affect the taste of your broth, so you may need to add some chicken base to regain your flavor. If you use the egg noodles, the flavor will not need enhancement as they do not have the starch that you find in Orzo. For variety: Recipe can be easily modified to suit your tastes. Add carrots along with the celery, use chopped onions in place of shallots, or substitute rice or a favorite pasta for the egg noodles. Remember, Noodles for soupy soup, Orzo’s for a thicker soup, they have a lot of starch. When serving the next day, if it thickens too much overnight, add another can of chicken broth. Swanson’s brand is a very tasty brand of broth. Some brands do not add as much flavor as Swanson’s. |
