Serves 10–12
1 x 2.5kg free-range or organic chicken
3 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sticks of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
4 fresh bay leaves
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls Jewish fine egg noodles or spaghetti, broken into short bits
Small bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Small bunch dill, roughly chopped
1 Rinse your chicken, pat it dry with kitchen paper and place in a large pot. Cover with water to reach 8-10cm above the chicken. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes. Using a spoon, skim and discard the residue that will have gathered in a foamy layer on the top.
2 Add the chopped vegetables, garlic cloves, bay leaves and thyme and season with a good pinch of salt. Bring everything back to the boil, turn the heat down and leave to simmer for 1 hour more. Keep on skimming the scummy froth with a spoon.
3 When your soup is ready transfer the chicken to a roasting pan. Leave to cool, uncovered, for a few minutes. Remove the soup pot from the stove and, very carefully, strain everything through a large sieve, collecting the clear broth in a vessel large enough to contain its volume. When you’ve strained the vegetables from the liquid, pour the broth back into the pan and salvage all the nicest-looking vegetable chunks and drop them back into the soup.
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4 Bring the soup back to the boil. When it’s reached a steady roll, cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat underneath and simmer gently. After 10 minutes, add your noodles or spaghetti to the pan. Replace the lid and simmer for a further 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked.
5 Shred the meat, removing any trace of skin and bone, and add it to the soup along with the chopped herbs. Warm through for a few minutes, then season with salt and pepper and serve.