I have found it! The one recipe I make for anyone, including myself, who is feeling under the weather. It was my go to recipe for when my mom had to have an abrupt surgery, when Matty undergoes sinus season, or when you are trying to break up those heavy holiday meals. I discovered it in my Giada at Home cookbook (yes, I do have more than one cookbook. I actually have a whole collection, but like I have said before, Giada at Home is my favorite.) I have tweaked it slightly, but I certainly cannot take credit for it. This is Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup!
This really is one of the most perfect soup recipes. You have all of the vitamins from the veggies, the substance of the pasta, the protein from the chicken, the comfort of the broth, and the zing of the lemon. I don't want to sound like I am begging or demanding, but you HAVE to try this!
The star players: 1 lemon, 2 stalks of celery, 3 carrots, 1 onion, 4 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup of small pasta, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley, and 2 chicken breasts. You can use left over rotisserie chicken or cook up some fresh!
Get your soup pot and drizzle 1-2 TBSP of olive oil on the bottom.
While the oil is heating up, dice up your veggies. I peeled the carrot before I chopped it. Try and not cry while cutting the onion. It gets me every time. For a recipe trying to get rid of a Mr. Sniffles, I sure created a Mrs. Sniffles.
Let your veggies tender up around 5-8 minutes. Soup just isn't soup with crunchy vegetables.
Once the vegetables have tendered up, add your bay leaf, along with some salt and pepper. Lots of pepper! It clears the sinuses.
Zest your lemon into the pot and add the juice being careful not to get any of the seeds in your soup.
Pour in your broth. I use unsalted so you can control the salt content. Add in your chopped chicken breasts. Let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add 1 cup of short pasta. Giada breaks up some whole wheat spaghetti which is very delicious, but I didn't have any on hand so I used Ditalini. If you want to make it for any little ones, this is a great time to whip out those little star pastas. No one should grow up without chicken and stars.
Cook the pasta according to the package's directions. While the pasta is cooking, wash and chop your parsley.
For the grand finale add your parsley. You will be better in no time!
Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup
1-2 TBSP of olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced1 onion, diced
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 bay leaf
1 cup of short pasta
4 cups of chicken broth
2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 bunch of chopped flat leaf parsley
Drizzle the olive oil into your soup pot. Add your vegetables and allow them to soften for 5-8 minutes. Put the bay leaf, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper into the pot. Add the 4 cups of chicken broth and chopped chicken breasts and let your soup simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Add the 1 cup of dry pasta to your soup and let it cook according to the package's directions. Before you serve, sprinkle in the chopped flat leaf parsley. Soup's on!