“Oh the weather outside is frightful” . . . NOT!
It’s 70 degrees here today on the 8th of December!
“and my dear, you’re so delightful” . . . NOT!
My dear husband is sick with a horrible cold. Yes, he’s still as delightful as one can be when one is sick.
Singing the rest of this Christmas song might have brought a ‘slight’ smile to my congested and stuffy-headed husband, but for a little physical assistance, I knew that it would be better if I helped nurse his head and chest cold with some humble home-made chicken broth and wonderful pasta noodles that I brought home from Italy.
Plus, I don’t have a great voice for singing!
As they say in the old wives’s tale, eat chicken soup to help cure the common cold.
Whether there is any truth to that wisdom or not, I know that chicken soup certainly helps ‘mentally’ when a loved one is under the weather.
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I picked up this package of ‘Spaghetti Tagliati‘ while on the Amalfi Coast this past October because I felt that this pasta shape closely represented the pasta shape for chicken soup that Americans are accustomed to purchasing in the market for ‘package-ready-made’ chicken soup (i.e: Lipton’s).
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The recipe for homemade chicken broth follows, but in general, fill up a HUGE pot of water and insert lots of fresh onions, carrots, celery, and Italian parsley. Then add . . .
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a really good cut-up chicken (see recipe link below)
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and beef (if you like) to the veggie-filled water
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after several hours of cooking on low heat, STRAIN all of the meat and veggies into a strainer and then filter several times through a light, paper-thin tea towel to remove (what we call) the ‘gunk’ out of the broth in order to make it clean, clear and pure broth!
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Refrigerate the chicken broth overnight. The fat will rise to the top and harden.
The next day, remove the hardened fat and discard.
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This is the beautiful result that you will have!
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This DOES NOT take a lot of work and is so worth it!
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While you’re blogging, or reading a foodie magazine or watching a favorite foodie TV show, get this broth going on the stove, freeze it, and have it on hand for whenever you might need it!
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Home-made chicken broth TOTALLY outshines store-bought chicken broth!
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And now here’s the link to my post in 2009 for a complete step-by-step tutorial on making homemade
“brodo di pollo” (chicken broth). I hope you enjoy
my family chicken broth recipe (click the link) that has been passed down through many generations!
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Once you have made and/or frozen your chicken broth,
either use the freshly made broth or heat up the frozen broth on the stove
add your favorite pasta or tortellini and
cook until ‘al dente’ and no longer
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while the pasta is cooking,
grind some fresh Parmigiana-Regiano cheese
to sprinkle on top of your soup!
Never use the pre-packaged, canned varieties of Parmesan sold in stores!
Freshly ground Parmigiana cheese makes such a noticeable difference!
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Sprinkle the freshly grated Parmigiana on your hot chicken noodle/pasta soup!
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and enjoy !!!!
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Wishing you a healthy and Merry Christmas season!
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And if any of your loved ones happen to catch a bad cold,
this delicious soup will help them so that they too can better enjoy the festivities of this wonderful holiday!!
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I love this soup merry christmas
Hey Roz and happy new year! I was reading the recipe for chicken pasta noodle soup. While it sounds delicious, I am confused – LOL… what do you do with all the meat after its cooked? It seems like such a silly question that I am actually embarrassed to ask! At the same time, I am curious and have to ask because that is a LOT of meat, particularly at today’s prices. My husband and I have really gotten tino broths (Pho, etc) and this sounds wonderful. After you stop shaking your head, thinking “how crazy is this woman?” please let me know!
Hi Leannn,
You actually asked a very GREAT question: “What do I do with all of the meat left from making the broth?”
Since I usually make this in the morning to afternoon (it’s far too much work to do at night when I tend to get more tired!), I always clean off any bones and gunk that comes from boiling meat, clean it really, really good. Then we usually have sandwiches with the beef since that is what my husband prefers. Since it’s been boiled, I tend to season it up a little for sandwiches, but just a little salt will do. I also then let the chicken (cleaned of all the bones and gunk that comes off of the chicken as it boils) cool off and make a fresh batch of chicken salad. Anything else left, which is still plenty, I freeze in small ziplock baggies for how much I’ll use for future sandwiches or salads. Although I don’t make a lot of Asian recipes, I’m sure both the beef and the chicken would be great in a stir-fry recipe! You could also use the chicken in fajitas or chop up the beef for some burritos!
We’re really big on using our freezer since we live on an acreage and try not to have to drive into town all of the time and waste gas. So the freezer is my life-saver for these big batch of food recipes.
Hope that helps and again, it was a great question and I probably should have put something in my blog post to address this concern. Thank you for pointing that out to me!
Found you while trolling Google and Ask! for soup and apple pie/tart recipes. I’ve always been a pushover for la cucina italiana, so this was a natural stop, I guess. I have a question: isn’t spaghetti tagliati essentially spaghatini that have been chopped up into uniform lengths? That’s certainly the what the pieces look like inside the Divella package. (In the Gulf, where I lived until just recently, I used Divella pasta most of the time, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen this particular type there.) I guess it could be based on very small linguini, too, but they don’t really look flat enough. Mi piace molto il tuo blog, e ritornerò sicuramente.
Delicious and packed with flavours chicken soup: two essential ingredients flat leaves parsley and Parmesan! I agree with you NO PRE PACKED PARMESAN! Ciao (delizioso)
It looks great Liz!
This is easily my favorite soup (and my daughter loves it as well). It just screams love. Hope Bill is feeling better.
Thanks Kim! I agree!
Homemade soup is always worlds better than storebought! Hope this makes your husband feel better!
HI Joanne! The soup certainly helped Bill get better a little quicker. Almost out of the woods, but the worst is over!
Be well,
Roz
Hi U.S. Roz. I feel like I’m coming down with a cold. Please send a vat of this soup up to me in Vancouver! 🙂 Have a great week. Hugs. Canadian Roz
oh everytime this year I make chicken noodle soup nonstop.I just cant’ get enough-must try your recipe next time! love the addition of the parmigiana on top
With your golden remedy of chicken noodle soup à la Italiano, I trust your husband will be well in no time.
And I know you are a great cook… For Japanese soup stock – dashi – the finest cooks always strain their broth through
a cloth as well to ensure all fish flakes are separated from the pure soup.
=)
I have been sick all week and just finished the last of my homemade turkey broth that was tucked away in the freezer. I’m so glad I had it. yes, those noodles do remind me of that lipton’s dry chicken soup mix. i can hardly believe I used to eat that stuff. yes, you’re so right about the parmesan cheese too.
PS…my posts have all been moved to WP, but Kita has to do a few more tweaks to my site. Hopefully it will be up tomorrow…
It looks great Liz!
We’re healthy here, but I’d still love a bowl of your soup! I love the idea of adding beef…I’ll have to check out your recipes. Get well wishes to your hubby (and fingers crossed you stay healthy). Did your dad make it home? xo
I have no idea why my mom adds the beef, but its how she taught me and the flavor is delicious! My parents left yesterday and are in Ames now.
Roz my sweet bloggy friend. Your soup is divine, your photos beautiful and your holiday wishes are felt xo
Roz I tell you in italian … buonissimo il tuo brodo! You make it very well!
Sure you husband is now feeling better, chicken soup is a “toccasana”…
Ciao!
Warming and delicious!
That cheese and soup would warm anyone soul… beautiful! Merry Christmas to you my foodie friend… Not sure I will get back here working 14 hour days now! GREAT SOUP!
I’ll be thinking of you, Claudia!
I have a sick son right now too. Lots of colds going on around here. I love the noodles you use in your soup and I always find a way to get a little parmesan into almost all of my soups. Hope he gets well soon.
How nice that you have an old family recipe to rely on for a comforting soup. Hope your husband is feeling better by the day. Being sick, especially during the holidays, is no fun.
Sam
This looks so good, adding the beef is new to me, sounds great! Love your pretty dishes too-enjoy:@)
I completely and TOTALLY agree with EVERYTHING that you said! Chicken soup does cure a great deal of ills and I DO HOPE that my husband does NOT share with anyone! You are so sweet and oh so smart!
Chicken soup can cure a multitude of ills! This is perfect for winter evenings, whether it’s cold outside or not. Hope hubby feels better soon, and that he doesn’t share. 🙂
Oh Roz, growing up, Monday night was soup night! (Except late June to Labor day cause it was too hot for soup!). This is how my mother made chicken soup. Once in a while she would add a canned tomato (just one or two) smashed with a folk “for color”. I love it with noodle or tubetti or bows or even rice. I wish I had some now, late as it is. Have to make some, missing a few key ingredients, like the chicken. xo
Barbara, I just love the idea of Monday being ‘soup night’! How much healthier we would all be! I love that your mother is like mine in that she made the same chicken soup, no matter what pasta noodle she included . . . it is always wonderful . . . especially for the SOUL!
Be well, my dear friend,
Roz
Val, when my mother was in a ‘pinch’, and did not have home-made chicken broth on hand, she always used Lipton’s chicken noodle soup. When I saw this pasta in italy, I KNEW that I had to buy it for those days when we needed chicken noodle soup! I’m so glad that you’re back and can’t wait to hear more about your wonderful journey to Italy!
Merry Christmas, Val!
Roz
When my daughter was young she would have nothing to do with any type of soup other than Liptons chicken noodle. Although the noodles look the same I know this takes nothing iike it Roz!