Roast Chicken Noodle Soup
Years ago at a rather prestigious food title, we lived a luscious lifestyle of afterwork parties, which meant a panic text the next morning to add a roast chicken to the shopping list so we could just eat the skin. Sticky, marmity roast chicken skin is its own incredible food group, and this soup is steeped in its roasty flavour.
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
INGREDIENTS
1 whole chicken
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into 2cm chunks
1 onion, peeled and cut into wedges
2 celery sticks, cut into chunks
2 tbsp chicken stock powder
4L water
1 tbsp peppercorns
1 bouquet garni (a handful of herbs such as thyme, parsley stalks, rosemary and bay leaf)
salt, for seasoning
200g broken spaghetti
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves
2-3 spring onions, finely sliced
fresh bread and butter, to serve
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Season the whole chicken generously with salt and place it on a paper-lined tray. Roast for approximately 1 hour, until cooked through and golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Once cooled, separate the skin, flesh and bones. Place the skin and bones (and all the gristle) into a large saucepan. Store the chicken flesh in a separate container for later.
To the saucepan with the skin and bones, add the carrots, onion, celery, chicken stock powder, water, peppercorns and bouquet garni. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook for 2 hours.
Strain the stock, discarding everything except the liquid and the carrots, which you'll keep for serving.
On the night you need it, bring the strained stock back to the boil and add the broken spaghetti, frozen peas and parsley. Cook the pasta until just al dente, about 1-2 minutes less than the recommended time.
Add the chicken flesh, chopped into 1-2cm chunks.
Serve steaming hot with crunchy fresh bread and plenty of butter.
HINTS
Three hours is a lot for a weeknight, so prep it all on the weekend - store the soup and carrots in one container and the chicken in another, then reheat on the night for dinner in 10 minutes.
The roasted skin and bones are what give this soup its deep, roasty backbone - don't be tempted to skip them for raw.
You can cheat with chopped cooked chook in a pot of cupboard stock, but if you've got demons to reconcile, the long-simmered version is the weapon.
NUTRITION (per recipe total, serves 4-6 - guide only):
Energy: 12500 kJ (2990 cal)
Protein: 220 g
Fat: 145 g
Saturated fat: 42 g
Carbohydrate: 175 g
Sugars: 20 g
Sodium: 5600 mg
This nutrition information is a guide only and may vary depending on brands, exact quantities, and ingredient substitutions used.