Chicken and the Egg Soup
I know it's almost summer and the temperature is rising, but no matter what time of year, who doesn't love a nice bowl of homemade chicken soup! When I am sick, stressed or just in need of some TLC, chicken soup always delivers! It just nurtures the body and soul from the inside out! Growing up my mom made homemade chicken soup pretty often, but she always put her own spin on. The base of the soup is traditional, but we add some spinach leaves and beaten egg into the soup to give it an amazing egg drop soup consistency to it as well. I add some leeks to the mirepoix because they have such a rich, wonderful flavor to them that is less harsh then a traditional onion. This is one of those one pot meals that you can throw together, set on the stove, get some chores done and then sit down to enjoy it..no fuss!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
32 oz Low Sodium Chicken Stock
1 1/2 Cups Chopped Carrots (peeled)
1 1/2 Cups Chopped Celery
1 leek finely chopped (clean it thoroughly and cut of the top dark green part of the leaves)
1/2 large Vidalia onion chopped
2 Bay Leaves
2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
1/3 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley Chopped
2 Large Garlic Cloves Minced
1 Whole Raw Chicken (cleaned, gizzards removed)
Salt and Pepper
1 packet (or cube) chicken bouillon powder
About 4 Cups water
2 Cups of Spinach Leaves coarsely chopped (you can use baby spinach but I prefer the large spinach leaves. Make sure you remove the thick stems)
2 Eggs beaten
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
Cooked Egg Noodles, Orzo, Ditallini Pasta, Elbow Pasta, Small Pasta Shells (whatever you like!) (optional)
Steps-
Drizzle 1-2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil into a large pot and heat on medium low.
Drop in the chopped leek, Vidalia (or white) onion, bay leaves and Red Pepper Flakes and sweat for about 5 minutes to release the flavors.
Add the chopped Carrots, Celery and minced Garlic and stir to combine. Cook on medium low heat about 5-7 minutes or until the flavors come together.
Add a dash of Salt and Pepper and the whole sprigs of thyme.
Place the whole chicken in the pot and pour in the chicken stock.
Sprinkle the chicken bouillon into the 4 cups of hot water and stir to dissolve.
Pour the water/bouillon mixture into the pot with the chicken and vegetables.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then cover and simmer on medium low heat for an hour and a half.
After roughly 90 minutes, remove the chicken from the pot and shred I using tongs or your fingers. Be careful it will be hot!!
Place all the shredded chicken meat back into the pot with the soup and discard the bones. Remove the Thyme sprigs and Bay leaves from the soup and discard.
Add the spinach leaves and parsley to the soup and stir until the leaves wilt.
Take the two beaten eggs and while whisking or making a beating motion with a fork in the soup, carefully pour in the raw beaten eggs into the soup. You want the soup to have a slight fogginess but not have huge chunks of scrambled egg, that is why it is important for the liquid to be moving (by the motion of a whisk or fork) while pouring in the egg.
Let the soup simmer for about 5 more minutes then serve! If you want to have noodles or pasta in the soup, keep them separate and scoop a little pasta into each persons bowl. Keeping the pasta separate is important because if you put it in the soup it will absorb all the liquid.
Scoop some pasta into each persons bowl, pour in some soup, grate some fresh Parmesan cheese over top and enjoy!