This is Not A Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup

This is not a recipe. I don’t usually cook from recipes and neither should you.

What I mean is that when you’re just trying to feed your family, you want to be able to think about what you have on hand, what you’d like to eat and then go ahead and make something. It’s not rocket science. We don’t need measurement. (Recipes are so totally useful for special meals, learning to make something new and inspiration, of course.)

I’ve been hankering for a hearty chicken noodle soup for a while. Here’s what I did:

• Rotisserie chicken is on special Tuesday nights at Metro so I bought two, one for dinner and one to make into soup. Cook your own chicken or chicken parts if you want. It doesn’t matter.

• I sliced up some celery and carrots and cooked them over low heat in some butter in the bottom of a pot. You probably have these on hand, but if you find out last minute that you ran out of carrots, it will be all right.

• Add salt and a lot of pepper because I like my chicken noodle soup peppery. I tossed in a couple generous pinches of a seasoning mix that I made up but I can’t remember exactly what’s in there. It’s probably dried oregano, basil, parsley, garlic powder and onion powder. But whatever you like.

• Roughly chop up your cooked chicken meat and toss it in. Stir to cover with all the good flavours.

• Open a couple boxes of chicken stock. I used the no salt added stuff, but again, whatever you have. If you make your own then I’m not quite sure why you’re even reading this. You clearly know how to make soup. If you have an 18 month old around to help with this step, your chicken will have had just the right amount of time in the pot before the stock gets thrown in.

• Bring to a boil and turn the temperature down to simmer for, I don’t know, ten minutes if you can spare it. It’s totally fine to just add the noodles right away if you can’t.

• Egg noodles really are the best for chicken noodle soup, but any kind of pasta, rice or grain works. Drop in a few handfuls and cook until tender.

• I decided to thrown in some frozen peas at the end too, for sparkle. Yes, I think peas add sparkle. What’s it to you?

• More salt and pepper to taste. Stir. Serve. Ermagerd.

Irene asked if we were having rainbow soup, so of course I said yes. If she ever asks, I’d appreciate if you’d play along.