There’s something the marketing folks at Big Noodle don’t want you to know—that chicken noodle soup has a big user experience problem. The issue is that it’s almost impossible to get a spoonful of noodle, chicken, vegetables and broth all together—the noodle falls off, leaving you to have broth/chicken/vegetable only bites.
This recipe fixes all that. Orecchiette are small “ears” that both fit on a spoon and help capture all the other parts of the soup. You can use store bought dry orecchiette, but the fresh made is well worth the time.
Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS
- olive oil: 2 Tb
- carrot: 3 medium, cut in half length wise, then into .5 cm/.25 in half rounds
- celery: 2 stalks, chopped into .5 cm/.25 in half rounds
- onion: 1 medium, finely chopped
- garlic: 3 cloves, minced
- thyme: 1 tsp fresh
- chicken stock or low-sodium broth: 2-2.5 liters/64 fl oz. This homemade version, or purchased
- ginger: 2 Tb, grated
- chicken, cooked: meat from 1 chicken (from making broth) or 3 chicken breasts
- salt and pepper: to taste
- fresh orecchiette pasta: my recipe here, (make the full 300g flour recipe for 6 people or reduce to 200g flour and 100ml water for 4 people)
- parsley: 3 Tb
- lemon: juice of .5 lemon
- Parmesan cheese: grated to taste, approx. 1 Tb per person (optional)
STEPS
- Heat a large sauce pot to medium heat. When hot, add olive oil and allow to heat.
- Add onion, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Increase heat to medium hight and add celery and carrot. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Add ginger, garlic and thyme and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add stock and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
- If using raw chicken breasts, add to the pot and continue to simmer for 12-15 minutes until chicken is cooked through (70-75 C/165 F). Remove chicken to a cutting board.
- Bring the soup back to a boil and add pasta. Reduce heat to medium high and cook 5-7 minutes or until pasta is cooked.
- While the pasta is cooking, chop the cooked chicken (from step 4, or your already pre-cooked chicken).
- When the pasta is finished, add the chicken and parsley to the pot and add salt and pepper to taste (amount needed will vary according to saltiness of your stock). Add lemon.
- Serve into bowls with optional fresh grated Parmesan cheese on top.