I want to start this post off by explaining that I took one billion photos of the chicken soup, only to discover later that I left the memory card out of my camera. I think my camera may have a little bit of it's own memory, but until I figure out how to get them out, this is a post without pictures.
The very next day after our "Mexican Halloween" meal, I had leftover chicken that I couldn't bring myself to eat again.
To make matters worse, our pilot light was out in the house and we went about two days without heat in the house. Let me rephrase--the last few days have been cool in Houston, and instead of enjoying it, we were freezing.
Meh, could have been worse, and I'm thankful for blankets and warm kitties to keep me company.
However, all that leftover chicken and cold weather stirred something inside me. To make chicken soup.
I began by chopping up a medium yellow onion and four cloves of garlic. I added some smoked lard to the bottom of a stew pot and cooked the onion and garlic in it for a few minutes to get them soft. Next I added carrots and celery to the party, and fried them for even less time so as to also get them a little soft but just so. Then I added a bay leaf and a few sprigs of thyme, and chicken broth and water (a ration of 3:1). I brought the whole thing to a boil, meanwhile I harvested chicken from the fridge and bone.
I chopped the chicken, added to the broth, and lowered the heat to a simmer. I simmered for about an hour. I turned the heat back up, added a little more water to thin out the stock, and then added egg noodles. I tried the "passive boil" method that I had heard about a few weeks ago, as egg noodles cook fast and get mushy faster. I removed the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, and was able to spoon up a bowl of the stuff before heading off to work.
The result was a little watery for my taste, but the smoked lard infused the entire dish with a flavor unlike any other. It was certainly a cheap meal and had big returns for how little it cost me.
Not too bad for leftovers, right?
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