As I have previously mentioned, I don't like chicken noodle soup. Mike does though and sometimes one makes things one does not like for a person one loves. I figure if I really don't like what I made, I can always eat toast with jam for dinner like his grandmother used to. The traditional carrot-celery-onion-chicken-in-broth soup recipe is frightfully boring so I started throwing in stuff that I saw in other soup recipes. I figured that all the ingredients came from soup recipes so they should all taste good together. I do realize that this method of cooking does not always work out for the best. I have first hand experience with the times that it has failed miserably. However, in this case, it worked beautifully. I even thoroughly enjoyed it.
Better Chicken Noodle Soup
olive oil
one yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 c white wine
1 small can diced tomatoes
8 cups chicken broth or 8 cups water with bouillon cubes (follow package directions)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I baked the chicken in garlic-Parmesan olive oil at 350 for 30 minutes)
3 zucchini, cubed
4 carrots, sliced into rounds
fresh or dried thyme
fresh or dried rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups noodles of choice (I used pappardelle)
1 bag fresh baby spinach
grated Parmesan cheese
Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil; heat over medium heat. When oil is heated, toss in onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and beginning to brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add white wine and cook for another minute or two. Add tomatoes and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.
Add broth, carrots, zucchini, chickpeas and herbs (I had fresh thyme and rosemary from another dish I made but if you only have dried I'm sure that will work too. I used three stems of thyme and one stem of rosemary. The rosemary I chopped up but I just picked the thyme leaves off the stems and threw it in without bothering to chop it. If you are using dried, I would use about 2 tsp of each.) Continue to cook until zucchini and carrots are soft, about ten minutes. Stir occasionally. Add noodles and cubed chicken.
*Note: I used pappardelle noodles from Trader Joe's because they looked very pretty in the package. However, because these noodles are so wide and long, they need to be broken into smaller pieces. I suggest that you do this in your hands over the soup pot. Do not try to cut dried noodles with a knife on a cutting board. The noodles break into little noodle shards that rocket all over the kitchen.
After adding the noodles, I left the pot on the stove, cooking on very low heat, for about twenty minutes more until we were ready to eat. Just before serving, add spinach and stir well so that the heat from the soup wilts the spinach.
Serve in bowls topped with Parmesan cheese.
