Chicken noodle soup from leftovers

Before we get into the ‘how’ of this leftovers-busting chicken noodle soup, let me start with the ‘why’. It’s the end of the summer holidays in our house and our term-time preschool is due to start again next week… I find myself mixed with feelings of guilt at my excitement for September.

As a mother, I am looking forward to a bit of space, time, routine and the wild anticipation at the thought of looking after one little child and not two. The guilt is there because I love my children with a fierce and unapologetic love. The kind of love that I would leap off a cliff for and go to war over in an instant. I love the very essence of my children and I am happily defined, in many ways, by that love.

But in deep contrast to that love, I am also often drowning in the role of ‘mother’. There is so much outside of me that I can not control and making peace with this has been my biggest maternal challenge. I find that cooking is the grounding, reassuring, reviving act that I can repeat each day to bring me back to the shore and home to myself – a space where I am safe and have some control.

Because parenthood is full-on and consuming I am always looking for that time in the kitchen to be hassle-free and easy. I plan our meals around this concept: fit, flex, feed. I plan meals that fit our schedule and needs, I am flexible with those meals once planned: I adapt, shift, change and stretch the food to suit us. And it’s all driven by my heartfelt desire to feed my family fresh food as often as I can.

This week I cooked a whole chicken, it was 1.7kg so it was far too big for a family of four to eat in one meal. The beauty of buying a bigger chicken is that you can make this chicken noodle soup from the leftovers. This recipe will feed six from half of the roast chicken and a bunch of other ingredients. You can of course make a version of this dish without the meat and thanks to the big flavours in the broth you won’t miss much.

As I find myself swinging between a desperate need to surface for air and a longing for these moments of early motherhood to last forever. I am ever conflicted by my role as a woman, an individual and as a mother with a deep and unbreakable connection to my babies. I am sure it is a shared experience across the spectrum of motherhood, navigating all the many layers of our identity and doing our best to survive and thrive as a family.

I can’t think of a more grounding meal to cook for my family at the end of the summer than this chicken noodle soup using leftovers — and it might just help keep the winter colds at bay. It is simple, uses leftovers, and brings us all together around a bowl of food that connects me to them by osmosis.

This week I cooked a whole chicken, it was 1.7kg so it was far too big for a family of four to eat in one meal. The beauty of buying a bigger chicken is that you can make this chicken noodle soup from the leftovers. This recipe will feed six from half of the roast chicken and a bunch of other ingredients. You can of course make a version of this dish without the meat and thanks to the big flavours in the broth you won't miss much.

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 35 mins

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine Fusion, thai

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

• 2 thumb size peices of ginger
• 7 cloves of garlic
• stems of a large bunch of coriander
• leaves of half a bunch of coriander chopped
• 1 red onion finely diced
• 1 white onion finely diced
• 3 carrots finely diced
• 2 ears of corn stripped you can use frozen if you prefer
• 1/2 a roast chicken ours was left over from a 1.7kg bird stripped
• olive oil
• the fat/gelatinous chicken juices
• 1-2 tsp miso paste dissolved in 1 l boiled water
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 6-10 tbs soy sauce
• 1 pack of egg noodles I bashed mine with a rolling pin because the children find them easier to eat
• 1-2 tbsp dried chilli flakes
• Tracklements fresh chilli jam

Instructions

 

• Finely chop or process your ginger, garlic and coriander stems and set them aside
• Finely dice your onions and carrots and shred your ears of corn
• Shred and chop your leftover chicken which should be cooked and cooled. If there are any oil/gelatinous juices from the bird reserve them as they will add depth and flavour to the broth
• In a pan add a good drizzle of olive oil followed by any of the juice and oil from your bird
• Once the oil is sizzling add your onions, ginger, garlic and coriander stems and fry on a medium heat for at least 5 minutes stirring occasionally
• Add your carrots, stir and coo for a further 3-4 minutes
• In a bowl add your miso paste to 1l of boiled water. I used 2 heaped tsp but you can adjust accordingly (you can always taste and add more just before you add your noodles)
• Add the miso broth to the pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes
• Meanwhile, add your fish sauce and light soy sauce. I added the full 10 tbsps but you can adjust to suit your tastes
• Add your sweetcorn and your cooked chicken and simmer for 5 minutes
• Meanwhile, soak your noodles in a separate bowl with boiled water. You can bash your noodles like I did if you have young children
• I removed some of the broth for the children and then I added the dried chilli flakes and the Tracklements fresh chilli jam. Then give everything a good stir
• Drain your noodles and add them to the broth
• Add your chopped coriander leaf and served immediately. Make sure you give a good scoop of the broth to each bowl.

Video

Keyword chicken, noodles, soup