Homemade Chicken and Noodles - Southern Style and thick

I love homemade chicken and noodles just like my Grandma Bea from Kentucky makes.  I love to make the soup PLUS noodles completely from scratch.  Hope you like the recipe and make it for your loved ones too!



Chicken and Noodles Recipe

For the Stock:
1 (4-5 pound) whole hen or chicken
2 stalks of celery with leaves
1 medium onion, cut into large chunks
2 carrots, cut into large chunks
2 teaspoons of salt

For the Stew:

1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/3 cup of chopped carrot
1/3 cup of chopped celery
2 tablespoons Better than Bouillon Chicken Base (find in the broth section at the grocery - Even Real Foods has it in SF)
Black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste after noodles are mixed in.  Chicken base can be salty.
2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning (I use herbs de provence because it is a mixture of the same spices)
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, crushed
8 ounce package of fresh mushrooms, sliced
Homemade noodles (recipe below) or 1 (24-ounce) package of Reames or Grandma's frozen egg noodles
1 (5 ounce) can of evaporated milk (They sell this in a 12-ounce can so just use about half of it)
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1-2 lemons, juiced

Instructions:

Place chicken in a large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, skim off foam, and add celery, onion, carrots and salt. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 1 hour.

Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Once cooled enough to handle, remove the meat tearing into bite sized pieces and discard the bones and skin. I wear some disposable plastic kitchen gloves we have in our kitchen so I don't get oil all over my hands. Strain but reserve the broth, discarding the vegetables. Return the stock to the pot.

Add the chopped onion, carrots and celery. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the chicken base, pepper, poultry seasoning, thyme, and add the juice of one lemon to brighten it up. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and noodles (Recipe below), and combine the evaporated milk and cornstarch to make a slurry; stir in. Bring up to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir the noodles every once and a while during the boiling process so they do not clump together or stick to the bottom of the pot. Add the shredded chicken to the pot, simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes or until chicken is warmed through, noodles are tender and sauce is thickened.

Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. You can leave it simmering on low until it reaches the desired thickness. Be sure to stir occasionally so you don't burn any of the stew at the bottom of the pot.

Feeds an army - recipe can be divided in half. Does not freeze.  Does re-heat very well in the microwave.  It will thicken up over night as well

Cook's Note: Shortcut this by using a store-bought cooked rotisserie chicken, commercial chicken broth and frozen noodles. You’ll probably need about 2 (32-ounce) cartons of broth, but definitely don't leave out the base with that substitute.

Homemade Noodles

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
2-3 tablespoon of cold water, more or less
(If too flour-like then add more water. If too sticky add more flour)

Sift 1 of the two cups of flour with the salt into a roomy bowl. Make a well in the center and add the egg and water. Work the dough together until stiff. Knead until dough is smooth. Form into a ball. Sift the other cup of flour on the counter or a working surface and place the ball of dough on top. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Place all pieces except one for you to work on into the bowl you just mixed the dough in (You'll roll the dough out and make noodles bit by bit).  Take one piece of the dough and roll it out on a cutting board. Flip over and rotate until you get really thin dough.  It plumps up a ton and if you make it too thick it will be flour-like in the center which is no bueno.

Slice the flattened dough into strips that are a couple inches long. Then cut each of these strips with a sharp knife into thin noodles (think 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide) so that you have bite size pieces after they plump up in the broth. Place the noodles into a bowl or on a flat baking tray and sprinkle with flour and toss so that they they don't stick together. Repeat the process until all of your sections of dough are sliced into thin noodles.

After all of the noodles are made, Drop the noodles into the simmering broth with the mushrooms at the time suggested above, cover and simmer on medium about 25 to 30 minutes.

Cook's note: I used a kitchenaid mixer with the sheeting attachment and the fettucine attachment and it worked wonderfully.