Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into half moons
4 stalks celery, diced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons rubbed sage or 3 tablespoons fresh minced sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons black pepper
3 cups pulled roasted* chicken breast or thighs
2 quarts chicken stock
6 oz wide egg noodles
salt to taste

1. Clean and cut all of your vegetables. melt butter in large soup pot
2. Sauté vegetables in butter for  7 minutes over medium heat
3. Add flour, sage, thyme, and black pepper
4. Stir well to coat all the vegetables in flour. Cook 2 minutes to brown the flour.
5. Slowly drizzle in a bit of stock. Stir well. Drizzle in a bit more and scrape the brown bits from the bottom on the pot. Stir in the rest of 1 quart of stock
6. Add chicken and bring to a low boil. Stir well. Soup should be slightly thickened
7. Add more stock (2-3 cups of the 2nd quart of stock) so that there is enough liquid to add the noodles. Add noodles when soup comes to a boil. Stir well. Cook 7 minutes.
8. Check a noodle for done-ness. You will need to salt to taste. The soup is more the texture of a hearty stew or chicken and pastry.... oh it is so good. It also works with leftover turkey if you have bits you stowed in the freezer

*ok. if you are not making this recipe with leftover cooked chicken, you might need a tip on how to go from raw to roasted. If you have a whole chicken, I recommend following Thomas Keller's method for the simplest roasted chicken.Click here for that method.
If you have boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, rub them with salt, pepper, and olive oil and lay them in a Pyrex or casserole dish. Slice an onion, if you have one, and lay slices over the breasts. wrap tightly with foil and bake at 375 for 60 minutes. Test with a meat thermometer. Chicken breasts are done at 170 degrees. Now that you have cooked chicken, pull into hunks for the soup. 1 breast= 1 cup pulled chicken.