It’s a gray rainy dark day here in suburban Washngton, D.C. My poor sweetheart, has been in bed all day with the nasty flu. I can think of only one perfect thing to make for this otherwise blechy day. Homemade chicken soup. Very much like pasta or dumplings, chicken soup transcends every nationality. Even my German Protestant grandmother called it Jewish penicillin when I was growing up. The first thing my sweetheart does when he doesn’t feel well is order something called TT Noodle Soup from our local Asian Fusion restaurant. The first thing my son asks for is chicken broth with pastina when he doesn’t feel well. I am a firm believer in the healing powers of chicken soup especially when it is homemade using fresh chicken. After soup we will settle in on the couch with a fire and a movie. I can’t think of a more perfect way to spend a rainy winter night. Sometimes the produce department of your grocery store may carry a package of “soup greens” that contains all the veggies in one package. It’s fine if the contents vary slightly from what is listed below.
Chicken Soup
8 full size chicken wings
A few sprigs of dill and parsley
1 onion, peeled and cut in half, root in tact
2 carrots, cut in half
2 celery stalks, cut in half
1 parsnip or turnip, cut in half
About a teaspoon of peppercorns ( to taste)
About 2 teaspoons of salt ( to taste)
Place all the ingredients in a large stockpot and cover with cold water until almost filled. Bring to a boil, lowere heat to a simmer for 2-3 hours depending on how rich you like your soup (or when you want to eat.)
Strain out the all the solids and add soup back to the heat. Add carrots or any other desired well cooked vegetables into the soup and the cooked egg noodles. ( recipe below)
Serve hot in soup bowls. Soup will store in plastic containers in the refrigerator for a few days, or freezes well to be used later. Do not add the noodles if you plan to freeze, they will get soggy. Better to add them fresh again later.
Egg Noodles
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until the dough looks like course cornmeal. Remove dough and cut into sections to be able roll through a hand crank pasta machine. Roll to a thickness of 5 on the pasta machine settings. Use either the fettuccine or linguini attachment to cut the noodles depending if you want thick or thin egg noodles. Hang pasta to dry on a rack. Break into 1-2 inch pieces before dropping into boiling salted water to cook.
If you need to learn how to roll the dough, please visit the Course page of this website, and visit my pasta course to learn to make basic pasta dough. It teaches the basic technique that can also be used with this recipe.
