Homemade chicken noodle soup

I was making pelmeni the other day, and had some leftover dough. I don’t like wasting food especially when it is good stuff so I decided to ‘recycle’ it and make chicken noodle soup. It is an easy and hearty dish perfect for rainy winter days. 

Making the soup brought back many of my childhood memories. When I was a kid and was spending summer with my Grandma (aka Baba Zina) in the country, we had a certain tradition: one or twice a season her friend Anna Nikolayevna (aka Baba Anya) would come over to make chicken noodle soup. I don’t know how they were arranging it back then with no cell phones, Internet and even land line in our country house but my Grandma always knew what day and time Baba Anya would come so we would dress up and go to the railway station to pick her up.

They both were in their late 70s, friends for many years, and Baba Anya was almost a family member. She would wear her dark blue dress suit, a hat and a little purse that we now would call a clutch but my Grandma called a reticule. Baba Anya had a great voice even for her age, but tough life and the war that took away her husband and son didn’t let her pursue her dream of becoming a singer so she was signing just for pleasure and especially when cooking.

As soon as we get home, those two old ladies would get down to work and start making chicken noodle soup. We have a stand alone kitchen but when Baba Anya was coming over it was a special occasion and they would cook in our big glass window dining room in the house. I was a kid, and I was mesmerized by an egg yolk jumping in the hill of flour to become dough. They would talk about their everyday life, reflect on memories and Baba Anya would sing opera arias. I was in heaven. 

Once the soup was made and eaten, they would clean up our big table in the dining room and sit down to play cards. They would play for hours, never for money, and just have a good time and some tea. For some reason Baba Anya never stayed over for the night despite we always had a bedroom for her available Before it would get dark, she would put her jacket and hat, and we would walk with her to the railway station. Nothing special, but it was a day I was really looking forward to as a kid. Now they both are no longer with us, nobody makes noodles from scratch and the country house is sitting empty and alone. Nobody sings opera there. Sad but that’s life.

That’s what was going through my mind when making the soup. Anyways, enough for memories - time for share the recipe.

Chicken soup w/ homemade noodles

Ingredients (serve 4):

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 chicken tights
• 1/2 medium-size onion bulb
• 1 carrot
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Put chicken in a big saucepan and put it to boil, then reduce heat and cook until ready. Scum regularly. 
2. Make dough: combine flour and egg, add water, salt. Make sure you dough is elastic. For easy handling you may want to refrigerate it for some 30 min. 
3. Chop onion really fine and grate carrot. 
4. In a skillet, heat vegetable oil and saute vegetables.
5. Take chicken out of the pot and put aside. Bring the broth to boil. Add vegetables, salt and pepper and cook for some 10 min.
6. Make noodles: roll out dough with a rolling pin and cut it into noodles using a pizza cutter or a regular knife (make it any size you want).
7. Put the broth with vegetables to boil again and add noodles. Cook until ready.
8. Serve: in a soup bowl put the cooked chicken (bone it beforehand), and pour the soup. Serve with some nice bread and enjoy!