Chicken Noodle Soup
I walked into the kitchen to find one of my housemates pulling the meat off of a store-bought rotisserie chicken, and I had a golden idea. I’ve been on a soup kick these past few weeks because of the frigid weather we’ve been getting in Boston; why not go for the king of warm-me-up-inside soups, good ol’ chicken noodle soup? But where to start? I had never made my own stock before - in some respects, one does not become a real cook until they can make a good stock - so I poked around online for ideas and then got to work in the kitchen. It turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. And several hours later, boy was I sure happy I did.
“Cinnamon?!?!?” you ask. Quite unconventional, I know. Although this is soup and not wine, I wanted to create a more full-bodied, earthy richness, the kind that immediately brings out a smile. Hence, cinnamon, but only a very light amount so as not to mask the other wonderful flavors.
- 1 rotisserie chicken carcass (bones, skin, leftover scraps of meat)
- 2+ quarts of water
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Basil
- Parsley
- 1/2 box of pasta
- 2 sweet Italian sausages
- 1 large button mushroom, sliced
- Paprika
- Cinnamon
In a large stock pot, add the onion, garlic, and olive oil, and saute until slightly browned. Throw in the chicken carcass and let the mixture sizzle for a few minutes. Add parsley, basil, salt, and pepper (about 1 tsp each, but probably more for parsley and basil) and fill with water until submerged (about 2 quarts). Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered for about 4 hours while the whole house becomes permeated with aroma. Add water periodically to keep the chicken underwater.
Strain the stock through a colander into a 5-quart pot. Bring the stock to a boil and add the pasta, stirring occasionally. While the pasta cooks - this is the fun part - return any extracted chicken meat to the soup and discard the bones. Add the Italian sausages and the mushrooms to the boiling pot of pasta. Add water periodically to keep everything submerged. 10 minutes later, remove the sausages and chop them any way you like before returning them to the soup. Add a few pinches of paprika for color, a dash of cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste.
