Although it doesn’t seem to get that cold here in Richmond, we did have a nice cool spell where we had a few days in the 60s.  As soon as I felt a little chill I wanted to make soup.  I love soup and in turn I really enjoy making it.  You put in a few ingredients and come back a couple hours later and it is all done.  OK, maybe it is not all done, but there is quite a bit of downtime.  My kind of cooking.  Maybe that is why I love BBQ so much.  Back to the soup, I love chicken noodle soup. It is nice because it contains a couple of ingredients and the basis, chicken can be purchased in whole form on the cheap.  It is weird, a whole chicken costs $5 but four chicken breasts cost $8. Well here is my take on chicken noodle soup using the tasty dumpling noodles that I just blogged about.

Chicken and Dumpling Noodle Soup

• 1 whole chicken (about 3 -5 pounds), rinsed, giblets discarded
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 5 carrots
• 5 celery stalks
• 2 large onions
• 1 head of garlic plus 3 cloves
• 2 tbs thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tbs parsley
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning
• Kosher salt and Black Pepper
• 1 batch of dumpling noodles, or 8 oz of your favorite egg noodles

The Stock

Place the chicken along with 2 carrots, 3 stalks celery, head of garlic, 1 tbs thyme, 2 bay leaves, 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp black pepper in a large stockpot over medium heat. Pour in only enough cold water to cover the chicken.

Bring the mixture to a boil.  Once at a boil, lower the heat to medium-low and gently simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Simmer with the pot partially covered.

As it cooks, skim any impurities that rise to the surface; add a little more water if necessary to keep the chicken covered while simmering.

Carefully remove the chicken from the stock. When its cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones; hand-shred the meat and set it aside.

Strain the stock through a fine collander into another pot to remove the vegetables and other solids. Discard all of the veggies.  Set the stock aside for use in the soup.  If you want to make the stock ahead of time you can cover and refrigerate for up to one week or freeze for two months.

The Soup

Dice up 3 carrots, 2 stalks of celery and 1 onion.  Also mince three cloves of garlic.  Set aside.

Place a large pot on the stove over medium heat.  Once hot add 2 tbs olive oil and add the carrots, celery, onion, tbs thyme and 1 bay leaf.  Cook for 5-6 minutes until the veggies start to soften.

Add the freshly made chicken stock along with 1 tbs poultry seasoning and bring to a boil.

Boil for 15 minutes or until the veggies are tender.  Then add the noodles to the pot.  Allow to boil until the noodles are done.  The fresh dumpling noodles take about 10 minutes, while store bought dried egg noodles take between 6-8 minutes to cook.

After the noodles are cooked add the chicken back to the pot.  Also add the parsley.  Allow to simmer for 3-4 minutes to heat the chicken back up.  Taste and add salt and pepper.  Every soup is different but mine took about 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper.

Portion the soup into bowls and serve.

This soup is one of my favorite meals.  I especially love the dumpling noodles.

It is noted that you can use store stock instead of the homemade.  You can also use a roasted chicken from the supermarket.  Making this whole dish only a 20 minute meal.  However, homemade stock is always the best.

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