Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup
Larissa Terry
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium-size carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bay leaf, use fresh if available
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 quarts chicken stock
1 pound wide egg noodles
1 pound chicken tenders or chicken cutlets, cut into bite-size pieces
Directions
Heat a large soup pot over medium-high
heat with EVOO. Add celery, carrots, onions and bay leaf, and season
with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2-3 minutes then add chicken
stock. Bring to a boil and add the egg noodles. Cook according to the
package instructions, adding the chicken pieces during the last 4-5
minutes of cooking. Ladle a portion of noodles, chicken, vegetables and
soup into a bowl & Enjoy!
Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
2 c. whole milk (if you’re in a pinch, you can use 2%, but whole is best. Don’t use 1% or skim)
½ c. + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
1/3 c. (5 1/3 Tbsp.) butter
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.), preferably bread machine yeast
2/3 c. warm (105-115-degree) water
8-9 c. all-purpose flour
3 beaten eggs
Directions
Combine
milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over
medium heat until butter melts. It’s salty. It’s sweet. Yum.
Remove from heat. Allow to cool to
lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop
the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down
because this step can take forever. This step is really important
because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
While
the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tbsp. sugar in
warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn’t bubbled,
you’ll need to repeat this step–moving on with yeast that hasn’t been
activated properly will only end in heartache for you and hate mail for
us.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on
low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture
and beat on high for 3 minutes.
Add beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you
should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist
ingredients when making cookies and cakes–it ensures everything is
well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter.
If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.
Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft
dough. This dough should be very soft–it will be coming away from the
sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you
touch it. Don’t worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part
of what makes these rolls so good is that they’re so soft and light; if
you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl
in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.
Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.
Spray 2 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough
into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to
use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts
right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be
very easy to work with, almost like
playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.
Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30
minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your
oven), preheat oven to 375.
Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.
When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls. You must now eat one. Now. While it’s hot.
Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will
ever know that you cheated.
