Comforting Chicken Noodle Soup
Soup will always have a time and a place in our hearts. Be in need of a little warmth and comfort or to use up a bunch of ageing ingredients or even because you’ve gotten to that stage when chewing and cutting all your food placed on a plate is just too much effort. Soup is your saviour. This chunky and creamy (without cream) offers more than just to use up that left over fridge-resting chicken. It also brings about a key motive to cook - mental stimulation and zero waste without going beyond one’s means.
Cooking has revealed a new existence within society during the current Corona Virus pandemic. It has proven to be a great boredom activity that provides many with a duo of benefit - a time passing activity and a belly necessity for all humans. Be new to the kitchen or one who is accustomed to the kitchen rituals and methods, there will be something new, exciting to learn over this lock down period and the results are always very rewarding. The best part, you can go to sleep at the end of each day saying you accomplished something that day… you cooked and you ate!
This chicken noodle soup uses only cupboard essentials - butter, flour, left overs, onion/garlic/ginger and noodles - with most of the ingredients have the flexibility to be adapted to what you got going on in that fridge of yours. Switch those egg noodles to some ageing pre-cooked pasta laying in that container. Use up that left over chicken, no matter what cut or flavours that was summoned over it in the initial cook (if you want to poach chicken for this recipe or to even have for sandwiches etc - here’s how). Add that singular veg that you have been watching evolve into a wrinkly being in the last week. Everything has a part and a place in this dish. Make your ingredients feel special and give them a little love. These deserve it like us all during this hard time.
The most important thing is, do not waste anything. We are in a time where shopping should be a little more monitored and precise but even with left overs, they do serve a purpose. This is a key part in the food movement of #cuisinedepovera where getting into the kitchen means creating something unique out of something basic and simple.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
500 grams left over chicken, taken off the bone and shredded
2 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, diced
2cm piece of ginger, cubed
1 medium zucchini, cup into rounds then quarters
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
1 cup milk of choice
1 tsp salt
1.25 L chicken stock
100 grams egg noodles
Micro greens, coriander and lemon for serving (optional)
Method
Cook pasta according to the instructions then set aside. Meanwhile, remove the bone from the left over chicken and shred the meat, set aside.
In a large pot, sauté the onion with oil for 3-4 minutes or until translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and zucchini and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Remove from the pot and set aside.
Place the butter with salt in the pot and melt. Add the flour, cooking for a minute or until the butter covers the flour. Add half the milk, whisking to incinerate. Add 1 cup of stock, whisk to incorporate again. Repeat milk/water process.
Add the renaming stock whisking to avoid the clumping of the flour mix. Add the chicken and noodles, cook for a further 5-8 minutes or until the soup thickens.
Serve immediately with coriander, micro greens and wedges of lemon.
