Chicken Soup
Chicken soup, the homesick cure.
The soup that does more than fill your tummy on a cold day.
Since being away from home, especially the days I am extra homesick, I miss the simple dishes my parents would make. You know, the ones your parents made all the time that you probably took for granted and now wish you had. Yeah, I miss those so much more than I ever thought imaginable. Chicken soup was always “my soup”. My parents always knew which sibling’s soup or dish was their favorite and they would make those dishes when we especially needed it. So it only seemed fitting in a time I felt I needed them close the most, I would make some chicken soup.
Chicken soup is such a classic soup. There are so many varieties and versions, I love how it has evolved through different cultures. It is great for cold days, sick days, light days, and every day in between.
My parents used to make their version of chicken soup almost every week in the winter. So filling with fresh vegetables and lots of chicken; oftentimes it was a meal itself.
Chicken soup is also one of those soups, I feel, you can’t mess up. Well, I mean you can but you can’t. Since I’m big on replicating what my parents make and exactly how they make it, I was nervous to try this one. Both my parents make delicious chicken soups, but they are different from each other. And if you know Italians, we don’t measure. I thought for sure I would mess this up. Then it came down to what starch do I use. My parents use various types from rice, acini di pepe, orzo, or, my personal favorite, pastina. You know, the star-shaped pasta. The child in me never grew up. For this recipe, I tried egg noodles as I know my husband likes it the most. I get it though, it made this dish even more filling. You can tweak this dish, forget something but as long as you have the main ingredients, chicken and veggies, you truly cannot mess this one up!
Enjoy this recipe. Share it. Recreate it your own way and let me know what you do! I love seeing how dishes evolve from culture to culture, house to house!
Chicken Soup
Servings: 8-10
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
5 Chicken legs
1/2 - 3/4 bag of baby carrots chopped (I slice it)
4-5 Celery stalks (I slice it)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 bunch of parsley chopped
1 bunch of basil chopped
10 oz can peeled tomato
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
** Secret ingredient if you feel like it - Sometimes I add a dried bay leaf.
Recipe:
Remove the skin from the chicken legs and rinse under cold water
Place chicken legs in a medium/large pot and fill halfway with water.
Put the pot on the stove and let it cook on medium/high heat
As the chicken starts to cook, the fat from the chicken will float to the surface. Skim the fat off the top.
After skimmy the fat once, stir in the crushed tomato, chopped up carrots, celery, parsley, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper (and bay leaf if you want)
Let it cook on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
After it has cooked for 1 hour, remove the chicken.
Separate the chicken from the bone and shred it. Add the shredded chicken back to the pot.
If you prefer, I let it simmer together for another 10 minutes just so the shredded chicken can absorb some of the flavors.
Add rice, noodles, or pastina, and serve!