For the Love of Noodles

I absolutely adore this quotation by the timeless Italian actress, Sophia Loren.  In our current age of gluten-free, wheat-free and carb-fearing diets, this statement seems downright rebellious.  Even as a person who cooks healthy food for a living, I’m still pretty adamant about my love for traditional noodle dishes.  As always moderation is the key to any healthy diet, and in order to not act on every pasta craving that hits me, I have begun collecting beautiful photographs and recipes of noodle dishes on Pinterest.  Over the past couple of months, I have amassed almost two hundred pins on my noodle board.  This is food porn at its finest!  

One of the recent trends I’ve noticed on Pinterest is the “wonder pot”.  Basically this is all the ingredients for a pasta dish cooked together in one large pot on the stove.  I am all for any recipe that cuts down on the number of dishes that I have to wash at the end of the day.  I jumped on the wonder pot bandwagon, and came up with a comforting homestyle chicken-noodle dish.  To me, this recipe is as warm and comforting as a hug from your grandma, or Sophia Loren.

1 TB unsalted Butter

1 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Yellow Onion, chopped

2 Celery Stalks, chopped

2 Carrots, chopped

2 tsp Turmeric

1 tsp Dried Thyme

3 skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts

4 cups Chicken Stock

1 14.5 Oz can of Vegetable Stock

1 cup Carrots, cut into 1/4 inch rounds

1 12 oz package of Wide Egg Noodles

1 TB Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1/4 cup Cold Water

Sea Salt and White Pepper to taste

Fresh Chopped Parsley for garnish

Heat butter and olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, turmeric and thyme.  Stir vegetables while sautéing for about 3-5 minutes, or until vegetables have softened slightly.  

Place chicken breasts in dutch oven and cover with chicken and vegetable stocks.  Bring liquid to a boil  then reduce to a simmer.  Cover the pot and simmer the chicken for 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 Degrees.  When chicken is cooked, remove from the cooking liquid and set aside to cool, before shredding.

Bring stock back up to a boil and add the noodles and carrot discs.  Boil pasta for 8-10 minutes, then add in the shredded chicken.  Season with salt and white pepper to taste. The recipe is now ready to eat, but if you prefer a thicker sauce, combine the cold water and whole wheat pastry flour, until flour is dissolved, then stir into the mixture in the pot.  Allow to simmer until desired thickness is reached.  Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if desired.