Not Your Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup

I wasn't feeling very well today and started craving chicken soup.  I love making soups and stews.  First: it's a whole meal in a bowl and no sides are really needed (except for some crusty bread) And second: it's really fun to make, you can be creative and just do what you like. 

There are two important things to keep in mind when making a soup. Most importantly, you MUST season each component along the way--it is all about layering the flavors.  You can't just throw vegetables, meat and stock together and then season the whole thing.  You will end up with tasteless vegetables and meat.  Season each component lightly and every bite of the soup is full of flavor. Almost as important, make sure that all pieces you add are cut to about the same size and thickness.  If you don't do this, you end up with some mushy bits and other pieces completely raw.

I began the soup with the classic chicken, celery, onion and carrot.  Then I veered off course. I added the juice of 1/2 a lemon.  I am obsessed with adding fresh lemon juice to everything and figured I'd give it a try.  It is amazing! It's very subtle in the soup but adds a great freshness. I also added a can of diced tomatoes (no salt added).  Whenever I am sick, I crave tomato sauce for some reason, so tomatoes in the soup made sense to me.  And finally, I added some red pepper flakes to give the soup a kick--and clear my sinuses. 

The result is a very yummy chicken noodle soup that is bursting with fresh flavor and comfort. I must confess that I almost never measure things when I am cooking.  I just go by feeling--but here is what I did: 

mince 2 cloves of garlic and add to olive oil heated in a pot.  Add chicken and allow to cook.  Season with salt, pepper, and some lemon juice.

Add chopped vegetables (carrot, celery, onion, mushrooms) and season with S&P, thyme, rest of lemon juice, 1 bay leaf and some hot pepper flakes. Stir and allow to cook until vegetables are soft and almost cooked. Add tomatoes.

Add 2 cans of chicken stock (low sodium) and a little more pepper and thyme.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Bring this to a boil.

Once boiling, add 2-3 handfulls of wide egg noodles and allow to cook for 6 minutes. 

Spoon into bowls and top with fresh chopped parsley 

And the other important thing to remember about soup: allow it to cool a little before digging in! I always burn my mouth...