So, for some reason I got a craving a few days ago for
chicken corn soup, a staple of Pennsylvania Dutch Country
food that I have not had in a year or two. I had the
remains of a store bought roasted chicken, so I put it
in a little water and cooked it down for an hour or so.
When it cooled I stripped the little meat from the bones
and stored this stock in the fridge. Yesterday
I got some boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut them
up into bite sized chunks and sauteed them until just
cooked. Added 1 and 1/2 bags of frozen corn, 2 cans of
chicken broth, a cut up onion, about 4 or 5 chopped up
celery stalks, and about 8 or 10 threads of saffron
(most important) to the home made stock. Brought all
that up to a boil, then added bowtie noodles. I know
that's not traditional, I should have made rivels but
I was tired and didn't want to mess around with flour.
I would have used pot pie noodles, but you can't find
them in the stores around here, so bowties were about
as close as I could get. I let that simmer until the
noodles were al dente and my wife walked in just about
then. Oh yeah, I left out the cut up hard boiled egg.
Again, it's traditional, but unless you've got one
already cooked it's not that essential.

The taste was right, and maybe next time I go to
visit my family I'll buy some pot pie noodles. Or if
I decide to "do it right" I'll start with a whole
chicken, cut fresh corn off the cob and make rivels.
Need a weekend for that, not enough time on a week night.
It still satisfied that comfort food yearning, even
with the shortcuts.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

On Fri, 4 Sep 2009 19:07:39 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

>So, for some reason I got a craving a few days ago for
>chicken corn soup, a staple of Pennsylvania Dutch Country
>food that I have not had in a year or two. I had the
>remains of a store bought roasted chicken, so I put it
>in a little water and cooked it down for an hour or so.
>When it cooled I stripped the little meat from the bones
>and stored this stock in the fridge. Yesterday
>I got some boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut them
>up into bite sized chunks and sauteed them until just
>cooked. Added 1 and 1/2 bags of frozen corn, 2 cans of
>chicken broth, a cut up onion, about 4 or 5 chopped up
>celery stalks, and about 8 or 10 threads of saffron
>(most important) to the home made stock. Brought all
>that up to a boil, then added bowtie noodles. I know
>that's not traditional, I should have made rivels but
>I was tired and didn't want to mess around with flour.
>I would have used pot pie noodles, but you can't find
>them in the stores around here, so bowties were about
>as close as I could get. I let that simmer until the
>noodles were al dente and my wife walked in just about
>then. Oh yeah, I left out the cut up hard boiled egg.
>Again, it's traditional, but unless you've got one
>already cooked it's not that essential.
>
>The taste was right, and maybe next time I go to
>visit my family I'll buy some pot pie noodles. Or if
>I decide to "do it right" I'll start with a whole
>chicken, cut fresh corn off the cob and make rivels.
>Need a weekend for that, not enough time on a week night.
>It still satisfied that comfort food yearning, even
>with the shortcuts.
>
You just made me really hungry! I've been thinking about making
chicken and corn soup too. This is pushing me in that direction
because we always have a roast chicken in the refrigerator. Never
thought about putting noodles in it though. I wonder if those
dumplings that are really just thick noodles would be any good.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.