Hearty Homemade Noodles & Chicken Soup

Since it’s been cold and snowing here this week, I decided to dig back to my Midwestern roots for an old-fashioned recipe.

My Aunt Eva in Nebraska always makes these hearty noodles and serves them in a rich chicken broth-based soup. The result is similar to a chicken and dumpling recipe probably heralding back to our German roots on the farm.

My aunt shared this recipe with me years ago, and it’s followed me every time I’ve moved from NYC to Washington D.C. to Baltimore and now to Istanbul. I think everyone needs one of these family recipes that you can pull out whenever you want a taste of home.

While I was cooking the soup, I took a photo on my cell phone to tease my husband with his upcoming dinner at home. I’m not sure if it was the snow or the soup that made him come home early that night!

This recipe is definitely a crowd pleaser and one that will warm you up when it’s cold outside.

Afiyet olsun!

Perfect comfort food - homemade noodles and chicken soup!

Homemade Noodles

Serves 6-8 people.

5          Tablespoons    cold water

2          cups                 all-purpose flour

2          ea.                    Large eggs

2          tsp.                  sunflower or vegetable oil

1          Tablespoon      salt

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together. I used a hand blender for part of it. Then, knead the dough together by hand for a couple minutes, until you have a smooth ball of dough. If the dough seems dry, add a splash of water. If the dough seems too wet, add a little flour.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for one hour. (While the dough is resting, work on the soup ingredients.)

Divide the dough in half. Liberally dust your counter with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough fairly thin.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into thin strips to make your noodles. Mine were about ½-inch wide by 2-3-inches in length.

Make sure your soup is up to a rolling boil at this point and drop in the noodles a few at a time. If you drop in the noodles too fast, they can clump up together.

Continue rolling out the rest of the dough the same way and drop into the soup as well.

The noodles will need to cook for 15-20 minutes in the soup.

Note: If you have leftovers, you will need to add more chicken stock or water to the soup. The noodles really absorb any liquid once left to sit for awhile.

Chicken Soup Base

Ingredients:

2          T.                     sunflower or vegetable oil

3-4       ea.                    Carrots, peeled and diced small

2          ea.                    Medium onions, diced small

2          cups                 celery or leeks, diced small (I had a lot of celery to use up.)

1          ea.                    large potato, diced small

2          ea.                    Chicken breasts, chopped small

1-2       teaspoons        dried thyme

4-5       ea.                    bay leaves

To taste                       salt and pepper

2.5       quarts              chicken stock or water (If you use water, drop in 2-3 chicken flavored bouillon cubes.)

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, add the oil. When hot, add the carrots, onions and celery or leeks. Saute’ for a couple minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Then add the potatoes and chicken. While stirring, cook the ingredients for a few minutes.

Add the spices and cover everything with the chicken stock or water. Add lid. Bring soup up to a rolling boil before you drop in the noodles.