Chicken Noodle Soup

Last night was a busy evening of driving.  I was literally in my car from 4:30 till 7:30, thank goodness the debate was on the radio.  As a result I took my children to Burgermaster in Bellevue, at least their beef is grass fed with no hormones or antibiotics.  Needless to say I wanted to make up for it in spades tonight with a healthy meal.  However it was another busy evening with kid’s sports and a lecture up at school by Roland Fryer, a “genius award” winner and Harvard professor, on one of my favorite subjects education reform.  So I went to Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook and prepared her Chicken Noodle Soup recipe.

I have made a lot of chicken soup recipes over the years and this, by far, is the easiest, simplest and delicious downhome chicken noodle soup I have ever prepared.  Martha Stewart used to be my go to gal for chicken noodle soup but Ina has out done her.  No disrespect to you Martha, you are still the queen of crafts, but Ina makes cooking beautiful meals super easy!  The longest step in this recipe is roasting the chicken breast in the oven which takes all of about a half hour.  Seriously…a child could make this, oh yeah, he did.  A healthy home cooked meal in a hurry…no need to open a can if you have Ina Garten to turn to.

PS. I did not make her homemade chicken stock for this recipe, however I have included the instructions should you feel motivated to do so, she swears by it.

Ina’s Garten’s Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

• 1 whole (2 split) chicken breast, bone in, skin on
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 quarts homemade Chicken Stock (see recipe)
• 1 cup medium-diced celery (2 stalks)
• 1 cup medium-diced carrots (3 carrots)
• 2 cups wide egg noodles
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

Place the chicken breast on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred or dice the chicken meat.

 

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot and add the celery, carrots, and noodles. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked. Add the cooked chicken meat and parsley and heat through.

 

Season to taste and serve.

Chicken Stock:

• 3 5-pound roasting chickens
• 3 large yellow onions, unpeeled, quartered
• 6 carrots, unpeeled, halved
• 4 celery stalks with leaves, cut in thirds
• 4 parsnips, unpeeled, cut in half (optional)
• 20 sprigs fresh parsley
• 15 sprigs fresh thyme
• 20 sprigs fresh dill
• 1 head garlic, unpeeled, cut in half crosswise
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, and seasonings in a 16- to 20-quart stockpot. Add 7 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 4 hours. Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard the solids. Chill the stock overnight. The next day, remove the surface fat. Use immediately or pack in containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Yield: 6 quarts.

 

 

Herb-Roasted Lamb

Sundays in the fall are wonderful nights to serve slow roasted meals such as this one.  It is comfort food and the wonderful smell that fills the house is mouth watering.  This is another one pan Ina Garten meal that is easy to make and filled with flavor.  While our lamb was roasting I was busy blogging at my desk so I did make the mistake of not pulling the lamb out early enough so it was a little over done.  You must set a timer and pay attention because this recipe calls for a very high oven temperature of 450 degrees.  My kids were good sports because we typically like our lamb medium or even a little medium rare, however, it was still delicious.  I served some sauteed zuccini on the side to provide a little green and it complimented the lamb very well.  This recipe can be found in Barefoot Contessa Family Style.  Enjoy these beautiful fall days!

 

Ingredients

• 12 large unpeeled garlic cloves, divided
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 (6-pound) boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and tied
• 4 to 5 pounds small unpeeled potatoes (16 to 20 potatoes)
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven so the lamb will sit in the middle of the oven.

 

Peel 6 of the cloves of garlic and place them in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the rosemary, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and butter. Process until the garlic and rosemary are finely minced. Thoroughly coat the top and sides of the lamb with the rosemary mixture. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

 

Toss the potatoes and remaining unpeeled garlic in a bowl with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Place the lamb on top of the potatoes and roast for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the internal temperature of the lamb is 135 degrees (rare) or 145 degrees (medium). Remove from the oven and put the lamb on a platter; cover tightly with aluminum foil. Allow the lamb to rest for about 20 minutes. Slice and serve with the potatoes.