SOUP
Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken, noodles and vegetables in a proper chickeny broth. The easy version turns a supermarket rotisserie chicken and bought stock into something much better; the Upgrade starts with browned chicken and makes the stock itself.
BASIC
Pull apart a supermarket chook, simmer the roasted carcass in bought stock, then add the meat back right at the end. Very little effort for a considerably better bowl of soup.
Method
Pull the chicken apart
Strip the useful meat from the rotisserie chicken and put it aside. Keep the skin if you like it in the finished soup, or eat it while standing at the bench. Put the bones, carcass and any scraps you don't want to eat directly into a large pot.
Make the bought stock better
Pour the chicken stock over the carcass. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns if you have them. Bring it to a gentle simmer and leave it for about 30–45 minutes.
SimmerKeep the liquid gently bubbling. It should be active, but not rolling and splashing like a full boil.Cooking words →You aren't really making stock from scratch here. You're fortifying bought stock with an already-roasted chicken carcass. It adds more chicken flavour, gelatin and body for very little additional effort.Get the bones out
Lift out the carcass and any large bones. If there are lots of little fragments floating around, pour the stock through a sieve and return it to the pot.
Add the vegetables
Add the onion, carrot and celery. Simmer for about 10 minutes until they're starting to soften.
Add the garlic
Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
Cook the noodles
Add the noodles and cook according to the packet time, or until they're just tender. Keep in mind they'll continue softening while they sit in the hot soup.
Put the chicken back
Add as much of the pulled chicken meat as you want and cook for only another couple of minutes, just long enough to heat it through.
The chicken is already cooked. Putting it back in at the end keeps it from spending half an hour simmering until all the moisture and joy have left it.Wake it up
Take the pot off the heat and stir through the lemon juice. Add parsley if using, then taste. Add black pepper and only as much salt as the soup actually needs.
UPGRADE
Brown the chicken first, make the stock yourself and then build the soup from it. More time, but most of it is just bones quietly getting useful.
Method
Brown the chicken
Heat a large pot with a little oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken pieces in batches until they've developed good colour on several sides. They don't need to be cooked through. Move them to a plate as they're done.
BrownLet the food develop actual brown colour. Grey meat can be cooked, but it is not browned. If liquid pools in the pan, use more heat or cook in smaller batches.Cooking words →This is deliberate. Browning gives the stock a roasted flavour rather than the slightly pale cooked-chicken flavour you can get from starting everything raw in water.Brown the vegetables
Add the quartered onion, carrot and celery to the same pot and let them pick up some colour. Add a splash of water if the browned bits on the bottom start looking more burnt than useful.
Build the stock
Return the chicken to the pot. Add the garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns, then pour in enough cold water to cover everything comfortably.
Simmer gently
Bring the pot up slowly, then hold it at a gentle simmer for about 2 hours. Don't violently boil it into submission. Add a little water if the chicken becomes exposed.
SimmerKeep the liquid gently bubbling. It should be active, but not rolling and splashing like a full boil.Cooking words →Rescue the useful chicken
If you're using thighs or drumsticks with good meat on them, take those pieces out once the meat is completely tender, usually well before the full stock time. Pull off the meat and refrigerate it for the finished soup, then return the bones and skin to the pot.
There is no benefit in simmering perfectly edible chicken meat for two hours until it turns stringy. The bones can keep working after the meat has done its job.Strain the stock
Pour everything through a sieve into a clean pot or large heatproof container. Discard the bones and exhausted vegetables.
Taste what you've made
You should now have a noticeably chickeny stock with some body to it. If it tastes weak, simmer it uncovered until the flavour concentrates.
ReduceCook a liquid so some of its water evaporates, leaving less liquid with a stronger flavour and usually a thicker texture.Cooking words →Build the actual soup
Return about 1.5 litres of stock to the pot. Add the diced onion, sliced carrot and celery and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and noodles
Add the garlic, then the noodles. Cook until the noodles are just tender according to their packet time.
Return the chicken
Add the reserved chicken meat and warm it through for a couple of minutes.
Finish it
Take the soup off the heat and add the lemon juice. Stir through parsley if using, then taste and season with salt and black pepper until everything comes into focus.
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