With the winter chills well and truly here in Queensland, Australia I have decided to try some soups out on my family this year. When I went back to work full time after my first child was born, my husband ended up taking over a lot of the cooking in our house hold. Being a busy family and over time we have become a family of set meals most weeks, we have steak night, roast night, BBQ night, spag bowl night. Of course, during the colder months, we start having more curry’s and casseroles, but we really haven’t been a family for soups. So, this winter I decided to try out some soup recipes and what better soup to have in your favourites but a chicken noodle soup. When you feel unwell it usually is a go to for most people, and I like the fact that maybe I could cook my kids their favourite soups whenever they ask for it.

I tried it out and it was delish. I hope you enjoy the recipe below I ended up blending several different methods using the vegetables and herbs I have in my garden.

 

 

Ingredients:

• Cooked roast chicken from the supermarket or a 1.6kg whole chicken to cook
• 2 carrots, halved, thinly sliced
• 2 onions quartered
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 zucchinis thinly sliced
• 2 celery stalks thinly sliced
• 50g baby spinach leaves (or I just put in how much I can get away with before detection)
• Half a packet of spaghetti noodles (I usually use what I have, sometimes it can be fettuccini other times angel hair noodles or even spirals.
• 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons dill sprigs
• 1 tablespoon of mixed herbs and rosemary
• 500mls of Chicken stock
• 1 packet of chicken noodle soup packet mix (optional

Method:

1. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Place in a large stockpot and add 2 1/2L (10 cups) cold water. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Or you can use a cooked roast chicken from the supermarket and add it to the water cutting it up into bite sized pieces and removing the skin. Add carrot, onion and bay leaves (top with a saucer to keep chicken submerged). Reduce heat to medium and cook, skimming impurities from the surface, for 30 minutes or until cooked through. If you have used a whole chicken remove chicken from the pot. Carve off the breast fillets either side of the breast bone, remove and discard the skin.
2. Return the chicken carcass to the pot, add the zucchini, and celery, then season. Cook for a further 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
3. Remove chicken from the pot, and shred the remaining meat from legs and thighs, discarding skin. Shred meat from the reserved breast fillets.
4. Return shredded chicken to the pan with spinach leaves. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until warmed through.
5. Meanwhile, cook the noodles in a separate pot and drain. Add them to the soup and garnish with parsley and dill or any other herbs you may have in the garden to serve.

Lovely on a cold winters day and it would be perfect with a slice of homemade sour dough, now to try to get my sour dough starter to work!

Enjoy

Lisa x