Chicken Noodle Soup

zenchild

My chicken noodle soup kicks the PANTS off any other chicken noodle soup I've ever tasted. It's even better than my grandmother's chicken noodle soup (sorry Gramma). It's 250 calories of heaven. I have bronchitis and I need to get better by Saturday for my sister's wedding so I took the high-test cough syrup the doctor gave me and made myself some medicine.

- 3 Cornish game hens (this is my secret ingredient, WAY better than chicken)
- 4 cups vegetable stock (I use Kitchen Basics unsalted)
- 1 cup white onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped (I cheated and used half a bag of fresh crinkle cut carrots)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2-4 cups water
- 3 cups egg noodles (I prefer fine)
- salt
- pepper
- tarragon
- parsley

Drizzle the hens with olive oil and place in a roasting pan. Broil until golden, then flip and broil until the other side is golden too. Then don't have to be done, just get the skin a little crispy and get some of the fat out. This takes 30-45 minutes, depending on what else I'm doing. This isn't rocket science, it's soup.
Pour some of the rendered fat into your stock pot/dutch oven and use it to saute the onions and celery until translucent. Add the carrots, saute another minute or so. Season with salt, pepper and tarragon (about a tablespoon). Add the whole hens. Pour the stock in and enough water to almost cover the hens (the bit poking out of the water will be steamed). I use 2-4 cups depending on the size of the hens and the size of the pot. Add a good bit of parsley (a couple tablespoons). Bring the whole thing to a very low simmer, cover and walk away. Find something good on TV. Take a nap. Turn the hens every so often.
After an hour, hour and a half, poke the hens. If they're falling apart, they're done. If they're not falling apart, they're not done. (If you're nervous, poke them with a thermometer. 180 degrees is done.) Pull them out and put them on your largest cutting board. If you're squeamish, get gloves. Pull the legs and wings off so they cool faster. When you can handle them, pull the skin off (save for chicken bacon, see below) and get all the meat you can off. Shred it up and put it back in the pot. Bring it to a boil again and check your seasoning. You'll need more salt and pepper. Once your seasoning is good, add the noodles and cook till they're done.
This makes about 8 good servings. Add a chunk of good crusty French bread or a handful of Saltines and you have a fantastic meal. This doesn't make a light soup. This is thick and filling and delicious.
Chicken bacon is wonderful. It's like bacon, but chicken (Cornish hen in this case). Take the skin you saved earlier and salt and pepper generously. Put it on a tray and put it in the toaster oven and toast it for 1 or 2 cycles until it's crispy and delicious. Oh. Wow. Serve just a little bit to accompany the soup. Or snack on it while the soup finishes. Whatever.

tnladyvol

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