Today started out as a beautiful, snowy gorgeous day. Of course, I was in the suburbs, where snow stays white for a few days, and slush isn't an immediate issue....but I digress. I came back to the Itty Bitty Kitchen this morning, and had a desperate hankering for some real comfort food: chicken noodle soup. CSN speaks to all that is good and delicious about food- fresh vegetables, chicken, egg noodles and whatever spices you care to throw in. In fact, this entire soup is about whatever you care to throw in. The benefit of it is that you can almost always whip up some CSN, as long as you happen to keep an entire chicken in your freezer (which I do, given my love for this soup!). This really is the original stone soup...just keep adding your favorite flavors and ingredients, and see what happens. I have to say, I'm a little nervous to give you this recipe right off the bat, for fear that everything else I post about will simply not measure up!
In addition to the soup, I wanted something yummy and savory to have as a tea time snack. You will soon learn that I am addicted to tea time...there's something so wonderfully civilized about sitting down with a cup of tea and a friend, or a good book, and just enjoying yourself. So I leafed through a couple of recipe books, before I stumbled upon a recipe for cheddar scallion scones, in Flour, by Joanne Chang. And while I totally and completely bow down before her culinary skills, I wanted something just a tad bit different. So, I substituted chives for the scallions, and kicked up the amount of cheddar (I also love cheese)!
The results are below...let me know what you think!
Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients:
1 roasting chicken (mine are usually around 3 1/2 pounds- a little bigger is totally fine, but smaller may lead to less flavor)
5 carrots, roughly chopped (I used baby carrots today because that's what I had in the fridge- if you do too, I recommend around 15 to 20).
5 stalks of celery, chopped
1.5 chicken bouillon cubes
2 leeks
2 large white or yellow onions, chopped
1 shallot, diced
5 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped finely
1 bag of egg noodles
Kosher salt
Pepper
Method:
Put the chicken in a big pot and cover with water. Add the bouillon cube, one of the onions, half the carrots, half the celery, half the leeks, the shallot and the garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium/low heat covered for about 45 minutes. Check the chicken to make sure its mostly cooked (if its a tiny bit pink that's totally fine).
Take the chicken out, and put it on a cutting board to cool for a few minutes.
Carve the chicken-discard the skin and bones, but get as much meat as you can off the bird. Every time I make this soup, I start with the intention of using a knife and carefully cutting up the chicken, but usually end up ripping it off with my fingers. Cut the chicken into chunks.
Bring the broth to a boil again.
Add the egg noodles. This is a totally discretionary step- while I love my egg noodles, if you are going low-carb, or low whatever, just leave 'em out. The soup is still yummy! One bag of egg noodles is pretty much always a pound, and I tend to use about a quarter to a third of the bag.
When the noodles are almost done add the rest of the vegetables.
When the veggies are soft, add the chicken, make sure it gets warm (if it was still a little pink when you carved it up, make sure it cooks in the broth). Enjoy!
Whenever I make this soup, it tends to yield waaaay more than I can eat myself, so its a great thing to cook if some girlfriends are coming over for the night. I often end up freezing it in single serve tupperwares and bringing it to work with me for lunch! It lasts about a month frozen- any longer than that and you risk losing some flavor.
Now, onto the scones! I pulled some of this recipe from the talented Joanne Chang, but changed a few key ingredients to fit my tastes. I've found that cooking is really about finding something that works for you, even if its not a perfect replica of a recipe.
Cheddar Chive Scones
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups of flour
1/2 cup medium grind white (or yellow) cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3.5 ounces Cheddar cheese, cut into little cubes (about 1/2-3/4 cup)
Handful of chives, diced
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 to 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1/4 cup cold milk
1 cold egg
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using a handheld mixer, beat together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cheese and chives on low speed for about 15 seconds. Add the butter, and blend until it is somewhat broken down (don't worry if chunks of it remain), about 30 seconds.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, whole egg, and milk until reallllllly blended. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture to the flour-butter mixture and beat for around 30 seconds, or until the dough just comes together. There will be loose flour mixture at the bottom of the bowl, don't be alarmed! Gather and lift the dough with your hands and knead it over a few times, picking up the loose mixture from the bottom, until it is all mixed in.
Dump the dough onto a baking sheet and pat/pull it into a circle about 1 inch thick. Brush the top of the circle evenly with the egg yolk- I don't yet have a brush, so I used my fingers (kinda gross, I know, but it was better than nothing!). Cut the circle into 8 wedges.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the entire circle is golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes (I only waited 20 because I'm impatient and wanted my tea!).
Cut into the prescored wedges and serve!
Delicious!
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