Chicken Noodle Soup

When I was a little girl, my great grandparents moved to live near my family. My Great Grandma Esther was a lovely, zesty little thing of about 4ft 10 inches.. well maybe 5 ft but honestly not much taller than that.
Every once in awhile we would go to their home for dinner  and sometimes if we were lucky, we would get homemade chicken noodle soup. She even made the egg noodles by hand!


Through the years with my boys, all 4 of them, I have found it a struggle to get more than a few vegetables into their diets. Soup is the most brilliant solution. I add all kinds of things to it  while it  is cooking and then when the veg becomes soggy and all the lovely vitamins are in the broth you simply take them out and no one even knows they were in there...how clever is that?
Also just note worthy, the old wives tale is that the longer you cook the chicken, and the bones soften, that something in the bone marrow is like an elixir. It is good to strengthen big and little bodies, and ward off the common cold. We love it and it can often be frozen and used for another meal.

Serves 6 to 12




Ingredients

2 Parsnipes, skin on
2 Medium white onions
3 Whole peeled cloves of garlic
6 Washed whole carrots, skin on
6 Washed whole celery stocks with the tops 
1  Washed rutabaga, skin on cut in half
3 Whole washed, trimmed top and bottom leeks
1 Large Whole Chicken (cleaned if needed)
1/4 cup fish sauce ( Trust me! )
Water
Splash of olive oil
1 Whole sprig of  Thyme
1 Whole bunch of Basil
Peppercorns
Sea Salt
2 pounds of egg noodles or any kind of pasta
1 loaf of fresh bread
Generous chunk of cheddar cheese


Prepare

* In a very large pot, put a splash of olive oil and the onion and garlic
* On medium high heat, brown your  whole chicken slightly on all sides taking care not to burn the garlic
* Cover the chicken with water + 4 inches
* Add your rutabaga, parsnipes, leeks, 3 carrots and 3 celery stalks to your pot
* Add the fish sauce, a generous pinch of peppercorns and pinch of salt
* Cover and simmer on low heat for 6 or more hours, checking every hour to make sure there is water still covering the chicken, if needed fill with water to original place
*When the chicken looks as if it is falling off the bone, turn heat off and let it cool down for about an hour before trying to remove stuff
* On a platter, put the chicken, place the vegetables from the broth in a bowl ( I will munch on these for the next few days, just refrigerate when the cool to room temp)
* With a slotted spoon get the peppercorn out of the broth
* Shred the chicken and put back into the broth
* Add the last 3 carrots sliced, the last 3 Celery stocks sliced and the fresh herbs tied together with string and simmer together on low heat  for another 30 minutes
* Add your pasta and cook until al dente ( not to mushy, still firm) * See below
* Place your soup in bowls, cut your bread and cheese and serve making sure soup is a bit cooled


* If you think you have extra to freeze, don't put the pasta in the broth to cook, cook it  separately as the pasta will deteriorate and become mushy when you re-heat the soup