I wanted to take a comforting soup to a sweet young friend laid low with extremely painful shingles. (Let’s all get that shingles vaccine pronto!) Remembering that Brittany had told me some years back that this one was a good version of the classic cure, I searched it out. It’s from Paula Deen, the cooking show host and restaurateur of Savannah, Georgia. Paula’s two sons Jamie and Bobby help her run her well known restaurants, and in her long career she seems to have had her share of both successes and scandals.
This recipe is different from her other chicken noodle soup, as you add cream, sherry, and Parmesan cheese along with more traditional ingredients. This may appeal to you or not, but I found the flavor unique and delicious. She uses a whole cut-up chicken to make the broth, which I tried to simplify by using just breasts with skin and bones attached. I probably should have listened to Paula (duh!) as my shredded meat wasn’t as tender as I wanted it to be. Next time I’ll use the whole chicken, or maybe just thighs as the dark meat doesn’t dry out like the white meat does. Or just make sure to undercook the breasts a touch.
Stock:
1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) fryer chicken, cut up
3 1/2 quarts water
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 1/2 to 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 bay leaves
3 chicken bouillon cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Soup:
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops
2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup cooking sherry
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 cup grated Parmesan, optional
3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
seasoning salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Crusty French bread, for serving
For the stock: add all ingredients to a large soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin, and cartilage. Set chicken aside.
For the soup: bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread. Serves 8-10.
Note: To me, the best part of Chicken Noodle Soup are the noodles. I ended up adding another cup of uncooked noodles to make it even more comforting. Since I was taking this pot of soup to a friend, I put the grated Parmesan in a plastic bag for them to add at serving. Sometimes cheese gets stuck to the bottom of a pot during reheating; and who needs to scrub a pot when you are feeling terrible!
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