Soup: A love story part #1

I am obsessed with soup. My dad used to make the little Lipton packets when I was a kid. He would chop up potatoes and put them in and make just a perfect mug of soup. Of course, I didn't know shit about sodium or bloat at that time. 

When I moved away, I could never get the Lipton ratio right. It was either too watery and tasted like... water. Or it was too thick and mushy. Blech. For awhile, I thought "I will have canned soup! How can that not be delicious!? Look at the picture!" 

I mean their most TENDER CHICKEN! What it should say is "soggy vegetables! with chunks of mystery white meat and enough sodium to float the Titanic! WHEEEEE!" 

OK. I shouldn't pick on Progresso. Surely they are lovely and trying to put out a product that's easy and efficient for people who don't have time or the inclination to make soup. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. 

Homemade Chicken Noodle

This. Is. Soup. (to be read in the 300 tone of voice)


Complete with homemade chicken stock, fresh parsnips, lemon juice and chopped parsley for color. Suck on that Progresso. Actually don't. Unless you plan on paying me a lot of money for it. In that case CALL ME. 

I bastardized Rachel Ray's Chicken Stoup. You would think that woman is Cuban what with the making up of the words - but still this is a keeper. You can follow the link right? Because copying and pasting is effing with my formatting and I don't feel like dealing with it.

Bastardization techniques (some more bastardly than others - oh shut up spell-check it's totally a word): 

Use regular olive oil. It's delicious and withstands heat MUCH better. 

I add garlic, a couple minced cloves. Because you can't have celery, carrots and onions and not garlic. That's just wrong on about 100 levels. 


Make your own chicken stock and save it. It freezes really well. Use muffin tins for a realistic stock "cube" and use Chinese takeout containers for storage in the fridge. They're awesome and if something happens, you have no qualms throwing them away.  

Chicken Stock:

In a stock pot put:
Chicken bones
Celery
Onion
Garlic Cloves
Carrots 


Cover with water
Boil
Skim the fat

Simmer
Skim the fat


Repeat until your house smells amazing, everyone's dog is panting at your door and you're tired of trying to get fat out of water. You can go as long as 8 hrs or as short as 2. Remember the longer it simmers the more flavor you get so hold out! 

Don't add water. Really? WATER? No. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Add the 6 cups of stock PLUS 2-3 cups of water mixed with... OK this is my secret weapon. The greatest most delicious piece of cooking advice ever...




Yep. Sazon Goya. It just has everything and you have to add it to everything. Sazon will give your the soup the perfect golden color, the perfect blend of seasoning and that je ne sais quoi. Your local grocery store should carry it. If they don't, find the nearest employee and demand to know why they would rob their customers of flavor and joy by NOT carrying this beloved item. They love that. Oh and try Wal-Mart. Send me hate mail about their employment practices later.


Season the chicken tenders beforehand and do a quick turn in a skillet. Easier to cut and less icky feeling when dropping into your glorious smelling soup. The Hubs and I love to cook whole chickens (hence always having chicken bones to make stock) so if there's leftover chicken shred it and add it to the pot. Or better? Get some rotisserie chicken ALREADY COOKED (WHAT? THAT'S CRAZY!), shred that shit and you guessed it, add it to the pan.


Add the herbs to each individual bowl of soup rather than throwing them into the boiling pot or better yet put it on the side. I love adding a ton of herbs to flavor my soup. Some people don't. AHEM ... HUSBAND.


Lemon/lime juice. The bringer of all flavors. If you have fresh limes or lemons, cut wedges and add at will! Bottled works too. Add a tsp to the bottom of the bowl before anything else so it mixes well with the rest of the soup.

Finally, and this is imperative for all soups, MAKE THE NOODLES SEPARATELY. There is nothing worse than giant broth sucking noodles in your soup the next day.  You end up with a big pile of soupy mush. Do you like soupy mush? Neither do I. Cook your noodles up like you would any other pasta and drop a couple tablespoons at the bottom of the bowl. Hell make the noodles the day before and refrigerate them. They're noodles; they're not going to go bad.


At long last, bask in the knowledge that your chicken noodle will be legend (WAIT FOR IT)........ DARY. It will cure colds, soothe tummies and make you feel good about the fact the you just rocked out some bad-ass grandma style soup.