homemade chicken noodle soup

Canned chicken noodle soup is about to become a thing of your past. This straightforward version is all about making (and keeping) it real: big chunks of chicken, wide noodles, plenty of carrots and celery. For the broth, go for the kind sold in boxes, and choose a good-quality brand, preferably organic. To make this soup even easier, you can replace the chicken breasts with some leftover rotisserie chicken or other cooked chicken meat. Just shred enough to make about 2 cups and add it to the soup along with the noodles.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red or yellow onion, minced

¼ teaspoon salt

2 medium carrots, sliced ¼-inch thick

2 stalks celery, sliced ¼-inch thick

8 cups (2 quarts) chicken broth

2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts

¼ pound wide egg noodles

Freshly ground black pepper

A handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Place a soup pot or a Dutch oven over medium heat. After about a minute, add the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the onion and salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion softens.

2. Add the carrots and celery and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.

3. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Add the chicken breasts and turn the heat all the way down to the lowest possible setting. Cover and simmer gently for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center. (You can check by cutting into the meat with a sharp knife.) Use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the chicken from the broth. Put it on a plate and let it rest for about 5 minutes, or until it is cool enough to handle comfortably.

4. Meanwhile, using a large spoon, skim off and discard any foamy residue that might have shown up on the surface of the soup. Bring the soup back to a gentle boil over high heat, and add the noodles, stirring to keep them from sticking together. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the noodles are tender.

5. While the noodles are cooking, shred the chicken (use two forks, a small knife, or your fingers) into bite-sized pieces.

6. When the noodles are tender, add the shredded chicken to the soup and season to taste with a few grinds of black pepper. Serve hot, topped with a sprinkling of parsley.

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GET CREATIVE

• For a nostalgia-laced simple dinner, pair this soup with a green salad dressed with Homemade Ranch Dressing (Chapter 2: Salads), and garnish the salad with very sweet cherry tomatoes.
• Squeeze some fresh lime juice into the soup just before serving, or serve with wedges of lime on the side for people to add at the table.
• To take the soup in a Latin direction, in addition to adding lime juice, you can garnish each serving with chopped cilantro plus some crispy tortilla strips (or crumbled tortilla chips) and a dollop of your favorite salsa.
• Love matzo ball soup? Buy a package of matzo meal, follow the directions for making matzo balls (you can even make them a day or two ahead of time), and add them to the soup instead of the noodles.

caramelized balsamic–red onion soup with cheese-topped croutons

Try this sweeter, simpler take on traditional French onion soup, topped with toasted cheese croutons. You can use any kind of mustard—Dijon, spicy brown, or even plain old yellow. Make the croutons while the soup is simmering, so everything can be ready at about the same time.

Make this vegan by omitting the butter and leaving the cheese off the croutons.

¼ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon butter (optional)

6 large red onions (4 to 5 pounds), thinly sliced

2 teaspoons salt

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

6 cups water

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cheese-Topped Croutons (recipe follows)

1. Place a soup pot or a Dutch oven over medium heat. After about a minute, add the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Toss in the butter, if desired, and swirl until it melts into the oil.

2. Stir in the onions and salt, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally (and more often as the onions darken), for about 30 minutes, or until the onions become deep golden brown and very soft.

3. Add the vinegar, soy sauce, and mustard, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes longer.

4. Pour in the water and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat all the way down to the lowest possible setting, partially cover, and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

5. Season with black pepper, then ladle the soup into bowls. Top each steaming bowlful with a crouton, and serve right away.

GET CREATIVE

• A good salad partner for this soup is Original-ish Waldorf Salad (Chapter 2: Salads).
• Use scissors to snip some fresh chives on top of each serving.
• Use the croutons to top other kinds of soup, too. They’re particularly good with the Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (Chapter 1: Soups).
• Put some extra grated Swiss cheese at the bottom of each soup bowl, then ladle in the soup and top with a crouton. 
• cheese-topped croutons
  Makes 6 large croutons
  You can make these with any kind of Swiss cheese, but the flavor will be much better if you use one of the higher-end ones, like Gruyère or Emmentaler. (And if you don’t have any of these cheeses handy, you can use bleu cheese, or any grating cheese with assertive flavor.) This works well with day-old bread, so it’s a great way to use up what’s left of a baguette.