Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup

In honor of the first pig in the U.S. to contract swine flu (right here in Minnesota, nonetheless) I decided to ready myself for a possible bout with H1N1, and I made a big batch of chicken noodle soup. Just kidding. If I were going to honor the pig I would be turning on the stove and tapping into the huge stash of bacon in my freezer in his memory. Then I would eat carnitas.

In all seriousness, though, I am taking the plight of the pig as a warning. I spent over a month last winter suffering from a seemingly never-ending cold/flu/cough, which left me cooped up in my apartment for weeks on end, save occasional visits to class. It's funny to think that if I were sitting in class today, coughing and wheezing and tearing through boxes of kleenex, I would probably be sent home immediately and not welcomed back until all signs of illness were gone. Last semester, though, everyone around me just cringed, gave me funny looks and asked, "You're still sick?" If you want a clear picture of how sick I was last year, picture the sound effects Ferris Bueller played on his keyboard, and then picture those noises coming from me. For a month. And then some. Pretty horrible, right? That's why I'm determined to not get swine flu, or any flu for that matter, this year. And just in case the worst happens, I will be prepared with a stockpile of homemade chicken soup in my freezer. Right next to all of that bacon.

My backup plan is to send Matt to school with "Save Kirsten" cans. It worked for Ferris, didn't it? Wait, no. He was driving around in a Ferrari and going to a Cubs game. I guess I should start thinking about a new backup plan. While I'm doing that, you should make your own chicken soup stash.

Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup

Adapted from Bittman's How to Cook Everything

8 ounces pasta (I used tagliatelle, but use whatever kind you like)

Olive oil

1 onion

5-6 small carrots or 2-3 large carrots

4 celery stalks

8-10 cups chicken stock*

3 cups chicken*

Salt and pepper

Parmesan (optional)

*You could easily make a vegetarian version by using vegetable stock and leaving out the chicken.

I started out by shredding three cups of chicken from the whole bird I cooked earlier in the day, using the thighs, the drumsticks, and one of the wings. I saved the breasts and the other wing for later use, and everything else went into a big ziploc bag that I plan to use for making stock.

You don't have to cook the chicken ahead of time. If you don't, add the chicken just before adding the stock.

The original recipe only calls for one carrot, but I had this bag of carrots from Matt's mom's garden to use up so I increased the amount.

I prefer a larger veggie-to-broth ratio. If that's not your style, then don't add as many carrots and celery.

Dice the carrots.

And the celery.

And the onion.

Heat a little oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion. Cook until the onion is translucent.

I haven't gotten around to making stock with the chicken bones yet, so I used a couple things of store-bought chicken broth.

When the onion is translucent, add the broth. Season with salt and pepper. My broth was somewhat lacking, so I had to use a lot of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.

One of Bittman's suggestions is to chop up parmesan rind to throw in the soup. I just so happened to have some, so in it went.

Add the pasta and the chicken to the boiling broth.

These tasty noodles had a pretty short cooking time (maybe 4 or 5 minutes), so I didn't bother with precooking them before adding them to the soup. The original recipe tells you to precook the pasta until it's just about done, drain it, rinse it with cold water, and set it aside until it's time to add it to the soup. I don't think it would ruin the soup to just add the pasta right to it, though. The one thing you might have to worry about is the pasta sucking up too much moisture, so you might want to slightly increase the amount of broth.

Once the pasta is cooked, it's ready to eat! Check the seasoning one last time, and serve.

For added flavor, sprinkle with a little freshly grated parmesan.

I ended up with five servings of chicken noodle soup that I froze, and I maybe got a little carried away with the labeling. I'll be the first to admit that I am easily amused, and sometimes I like to plan ahead to ensure future amusement. You can't tell me that you wouldn't rather pull out a bag "Chicken Poodle" than bag of "Chicken Noodle."

And finally, if I die, I want my eyes to go to Stevie Wonder.