Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

Well the cold weather is here. And as you can tell by the two recipes (including this one) I have posted so far, they are both soup. I love the tomato bisque recipe, but have been craving something a little more comfort food-ish. I was watching an episode of "Good Eats" on the Food Channel and watched Alton Brown make a chicken stock.

I have never really been a fan of the store bought Chicken stock. It is either completely flavorless or is too salty.

I bought one of those Rotisserie Chickens from Costco, which we usually use for salads or something. I got to thinking and decided to make my own Chicken Noodle Soup using the chicken carcass for my own stock. It worked out great! The thing about making your own stock, is that it has so much more flavor than the store bought stuff.

In a pinch, you can use store bought and cut the cook time on this recipe down to about an hour.  But don't skimp on the other ingredients.

I will warn you however, it takes some time to make. And I would recommend making a lot and freezing some of the stock for use later. But this has become a recent staple of the Elphick family diet.

NOTE: To start, you need a large stock pot. You can get away with a regular 10 quart pot if you are only making one batch, with one chicken. I have a 26 quart stock pot that I use for this. I make a ton of stock and then freeze it in portions for use later. Also, whether using this fresh or from the freezer, always store in a temp less than 35 degrees and bring up to at least 160 degrees to kill of any little bugs that may have hitched a ride.

Chicken Stock


1-2 Large Onion(s) (quartered)
3-4 Carrots (sliced)
3 Ribs Celery (sliced)
2 TBL Kosher Salt
2 Bay Leaves
1-2 Rotisserie Chicken Carcasses

Prep time: 1-2 hours
Cook time: 3-8 hours

1. Pull the skin off the Chicken(s) and add to the pot. Then pull all the white meat off the chicken. Put in a container and put in the fridge.

2. Add all ingredients to the stock pot and fill with water about 3/4 full (maybe about 6 quarts).

3. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer for at least 3 hours and as long as 8 hours.

4. Once you have finished the simmer phase, remove pot from heat and let cool (about 30 minutes).

5.  Now, here is the tricky part. You need to strain your broth through a piece of cheesecloth lining a colander.  Place another receptacle below the colander and strain your broth. I will generally remove the big chucks of stuff with a slotted spoon first, then strain it. Once this is complete, clean out the original pot of debris and return the stock back to the original pot.

6. Now stash your pot somewhere cool. In the winter, this just means sticking it outside for a couple hours or so--or the refrigerator. Once it is cold, there will be a layer of coagulated fat floating on top. With a spoon, skim this fat off and discard.

7. At this point, you can portion out your broth in tupperware containers, ice cube trays, or whatever and stash in a freezer for up to three months. Or continue on, and build your chicken noodle soup.

Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup


4-6 quarts Chicken Broth
All white meat from a Rotisserie Chicken (from the stock recipe above, or just a store bought one)
1 small Onion (diced)
3 Ribs Celery (sliced)
2-3 Carrots (Sliced)
1 bunch Parsley (chopped)
1 TBL Garlic (minced)
1/2 pk fettucini noodles (broken in half) or 1 pkg egg noodles
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Add the first 7 ingredients to a stock pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add Salt and Pepper at this point to taste (add the salt in small amounts, nothing worse than overly salty Chicken noodle soup)

2. Add fettucini noodles and simmer for another 10 minutes.

3. Serve with crusty bread.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6-10

Tomato Bisque

This is a favorite around our house. Next time I make it, I will post a pic, but we really like this one. The trick to this is the onion. Use a small onion. If all you have is a big onion, cut it half. Too much onion screws up the flavor.

Tomato Bisque

4 TBL Unsalted Butter (1/2 stick)
2 EA Slices of Bacon
1 EA Rib Celery (diced)
1 Carrot (diced)
1 small white or yellow Onion (diced)
1 clove Garlic (minced)
3 TBL AP Flour
8 cups Chicken Broth
2-14 oz cans Stewed Tomatoes (with Italian seasonings)
1 small bunch parsley
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp dried Oregano
1/4 tsp dried Thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
3/4 cup Heavy Cream

1. Dice Celery, Carrot, Onion and mince Garlic--set aside.

2. In a Large Pot over medium heat,  render bacon in butter. When bacon starts to brown, remove and discard (or eat! Bacon cooked in butter is pretty tasty, but will kill you if that becomes your new favorite drug...)

3. Once bacon has been removed, add your celery, carrot, onion and Garlic to the rendered bacon fat and butter. Cook until onion becomes translucent (about 6 minutes).

4. Sprinkle and stir in flour. This will aid in thickening the soup and soaking up all the excess liquid.

5. Add Chicken Broth, tomatoes, Oregano, Thyme and a few grinds of fresh cracked pepper.

6. Take a small bunch of parsely and your bay leaf and tie together with cooking twine and add to pot. (I find the parsley doesn't do much for flavor, so if you are feeling lazy, just add the bay leaves and call it good).

7. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

8. Fish out your Parsley and bay leaves and discard

9. With a submersible blender, blend the soup until smooth. (You can do this step with a regular blender, but it creates a huge mess and watch out for an exploding blender top).

10. Stir in cream.

Serve with rustic Italian bread.
Feeds approx. 4-6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

New Year, New Plans

So, for a while I have been contemplating restarting my blog. I haven't done it a while. I previously stopped blogging because everything was turning into a critique of something. It had a very negative tone and to be honest, it was kind of bringing me down. Not that my opinions have changed, but the world of blog-space didn't really need to know my thoughts on everything under the sun. So...I am changing the tone.

Instead of just verbally vomiting on to this page, I am going to direct it towards things that I think I can comment on. Running and Cooking.

Yeah, I know, seemingly unrelated topics, but they are things that I like to do. Plus, maybe some good things can come from it...not just for any poor soul that wants to read this nonsense...but more for me. A chance to document a few things that I am doing and maybe help me through the thought processes.

So, here we go (again)...

Now, I can't promise anything...I am going to leave the topic list wide open, because I am sure there are going to be things I want to talk about...but for the most part, Cooking and Running....with a dash of opinion, military fun and whatever the heck else I want to post...

After all...this is my blog and for some strange reason...you are reading it....