Ingredients
- 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- 1-1/2 cups flour, divided
- 2-1/3 to 3-1/3 teaspoons salt, divided
- 6 chicken thighs
- Preferred cooking oil, as needed
- 1/2 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely chopped
- 3-1/2 cups chicken broth or stock
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons paprika
Directions
- In a bowl, whisk egg and egg yolk together. Add 1-1/4 cups flour and 1/3 teaspoon salt, and work ingredients together with your hands. Add water, about 2 tablespoons at a time, and keep working the mixture until a somewhat-sticky dough forms. (If dough gets too wet, add more flour.)
- Turn out dough ball onto a floured surface and flatten with your hands or a floured rolling pin. Fold dough over and flatten again. Repeat 15 to 20 times, until dough is relatively smooth. With the rolling pin, flatten dough to your desired thickness of noodle. Add pinches of flour, as needed, while you roll it out to prevent sticking. Cut into about 1/2-inch strips with a pizza cutter, and then place on parchment paper. Spread noodles out to dry while you make the soup.
- Skin and debone chicken thighs, and cut meat into 1/2-inch chunks. Place chicken skin in a large frying pan, and heat on medium heat to render the fat. When skin hardens into a “chip,” remove it from pan. Make sure there’s 1/4 cup rendered chicken fat in the pan. If not, add olive oil, peanut oil, or butter to make up the difference.
- Sauté onion, celery, and carrots in chicken fat until softened. Slowly but steadily whisk small amounts of flour into the fat, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Steadily add chicken stock, stirring constantly, to make the soup broth. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in chicken thigh meat and lightly boil for 2 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and lightly boil for another 3 minutes. Stir the soup, taste, and add salt as needed. You should only need 2 to 3 teaspoons salt, but the amount will also depend on how salty the chicken stock was.
- Heat an oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish. Add chicken soup and noodles to the dish, and top with black pepper. Spread breadcrumbs on top, and sprinkle paprika on top of breadcrumbs. Heat in oven until center reaches 160 F and noodles are cooked, about 25 minutes.
Sometimes, all it takes is the whiff of a familiar food to propel us back to our younger years and the meals we enjoyed. Many of us can recall a favorite stew, meat, or casserole dish we had again and again when we were a child, or maybe just a certain ingredient our household frequently used that opens the door to myriad memories. The following are a few of my favorite nostalgic recipes to warm you up during cold weather. And whether you have a host of passed-down recipes of your own or not, there’s no time like the present to start creating beloved meals to enjoy for years to come.
Egg Quesadilla Recipe AKA a “quichadilla”
Texas Goulash Slow Cooker Recipe
Chris Colby is an avid gardener who lives in Bastrop, Texas, with his wife and their cats. His academic background is in biology, but his main interest is in brewing beer.
