Rachael's Rags of Chicken and Noodles Soup

Rachael's Rags of Chicken and Noodles Soup

Ingredients

For the Poached Chicken

  • 1 chicken (3-4 pounds)

  • 6 quarts water

  • 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

  • ½ lemon

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

  • 1 onion, halved

  • 1 carrot, quartered

  • 2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped

  • 1 bulb garlic, halved

  • 3 bay leaves

  • A few sprigs parsley, sage and thyme

For the Soup

  • 2 tablespoons butter

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

  • 3 carrots, yellow and/or orange, very thinly sliced, reserve a handful of tops for garnishing soup

  • 1 leek, quartered lengthwise, washed and sliced, whites and light green tops

  • 3 ribs celery with leafy tops, chopped

  • 1 onion, chopped

  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

  • Salt, to taste

  • 1 teaspoon white pepper

To Serve Soup

  • Salt

  • 1 bag (12-ounces) medium egg noodles

  • 2 teaspoons olive or canola oil

  • 1 cup shelled, blanched fava beans or blanched fresh peas

  • 2 radishes, very thinly sliced or mandolin-sliced

  • ½ cup chopped herbs, such as parsley, dill, chives and carrot tops

  • Wedges of lemon

Directions

For poached chicken, place chicken and poaching ingredients in large pot and just bring to boil, then reduce heat to keep low rolling boil and cook 90 minutes, turning chicken over occasionally. Let chicken cool in stock. Remove chicken to platter and strain stock. Remove the chicken meat from skin and bones and separate the dark and white meat. Pull the chicken breast and tenderloin meat into long, thin rag-like pieces. Reserve dark meat for another use, such as chicken chili or quesadillas or chicken salad.

For soup, in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter into olive oil and add the chopped carrots, leeks, celery, onions and garlic, season with salt and white pepper. Cover and soften vegetables 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add stock and pulled chicken.

For noodles, bring 5 quarts water to boil. Season with salt, cook noodles 5 minutes, then drain, run under cold water, drain again and toss with olive or canola oil in a bowl.

To serve, place a handful of noodles in a bowl, add fava or peas, a few slices of radish, herbs, top with ladles of hot soup and add the juice of a wedge of lemon.