Almost overnight the weather turned autumnal. It was in the 90's last weekend and smoke from the fires to the south of us lingered in the air here in the Rogue Valley. Then the winds shifted on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we woke up to the comforting patter of rain falling steadily on the dry ground. It rained all day, at times rather heavy, at times light, but steady all throughout the day. By late afternoon I had a definite craving for soup for dinner so I headed to the store and bought ingredients to make a quick, yet homemade, version of classic chicken noodle soup. The key to making quick homemade soup is definitely stock. I make my own when I get the chance and freeze it but this time it came from the store in cartons. My basic rule when making soup is to start with a mirepoix and build from there depending on what soup I'm making. And mirepoix is cheap so no matter what I might have on hand I always try to have celery, carrots, and onions around. So, knowing I had onion at home I just had to pick up carrots and celery. Then trying to decide on the chicken I debated buying some chicken breasts and cooking and chopping them up, buying a whole roasted chicken from the deli and having to pick the meat off and chop it up, or buying a big can of white meat chunk chicken. I wanted quick and easy so the canned chicken it was! Then a bag of wide egg noodles and 2 cartons of chicken stock. A nice crusty loaf of Asiago filone, a bottle of red wine and I was ready to make a big pot of comfort food for a rainy September night!
Join me over the fold to enjoy a hot steamy bowl of comfort in no time!
Step 1: The Foundation i.e. Mirepoix
Like I said above, I almost always start a soup with a mirepoix. That is basically a building block of diced or chopped celery, carrot, and onion. This is going to give you a nice aromatic blend of flavor to build upon.
I knew I wanted nice big chunky vegetables so I did a pretty rustic chop of 3 large carrots, 3 celery stalks, and about 1/2 of a medium onion. I used red because I had some already chopped on hand, but usually yellow or white onions are what I reach for here.
Step 2: Sweat!
Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Add your mirepoix and season liberally with coarse salt & fresh ground black pepper. Stir occasionally over medium-low heat and sweat (don't saute!) the veggies until the onion and celery are transparent and the carrots are slightly tender. This will take awhile but don't be tempted to turn the heat up, just let your veggies sweat and your patience will be rewarded.
Step 3: Everybody in the pool!
Add the cartons of stock to the veggies in the pot and bring the heat up to a boil. Add a cup of dried egg noodles and let this gently boil until the noodles are al dente. Add the drained canned chicken and if you are so inclined you could also add other veggies such as canned or frozen corn, peas, or even a can of cannelini beans to add some extra bulk. Gently simmer on low heat until nice and piping hot. Serve with some crusty buttered bread, rolls, or biscuits.
See? Wasn't that easy? And the leftovers are always better the next day!
So, what's for dinner at your table tonight? Pull up a chair, pour yourself a drink, and let's talk fall comfort food!