Asymptotic Chicken Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup is a classic - we have many versions, this is one of our favorites:

The recipie is fairly simple:

• 2 large yellow onions, chopped fine
• Several TBSP of vegetable oil, we use Walnut oil or Safflower usually
• 1 large head of cellery or 2 medium ones, sliced thin, including leaves
• 6 to 10 shredded medium carrots
• 2 pounds of ground chicken
• 12 ounces of "yolkless dumpling egg noodles"
• 2 Tbsp of Italian Seasoning
  
• 1/4 cup of finely diced peeled fresh ginger root
• 2 17oz boxes of Chicken Bone Broth (with 9 or 10 grams of protien per cup)
• 1 Tsp of salt

We do this as a "two pot prep", one large pot for the soup assembly, and a smaller (2 1/2 quart) for the broth.

Fill the large pot with a gallon of water and bring to a boil. Add the egg noodles and return to a boil, then reduce heat, stirring occasionally. Slight undercooking is OK. When done, drain the noodles and rinse with cold water. Set aside in the collander.

Now put some oil in the large pot and brown the chicken in it, working it actively to break up the lumps and provide a crumbly texture, almost like ground taco meat. As it is ground meat, it isn't all going to brown, and some may brown sticking to the bottom of the pot. If this happens, add a cup of water when done browing to deglaze. Remove from heat until veggies and broth mixture are ready.

In the small pot start with the onions: dice them fairly small. The results are best for us if we use a sharp knife and dice by hand, into roughly 1/4" or 6mm (or smaller) chunks. Carmelize the onions in a covered pot (you should start with about 2 quarts of diced onions) over medium heat with stirring every few minutes - this will take about an hour to cook down and carmelize. You are aiming for "light brown and uniform" carmelization, not seared.

While the onions are reducing, shred the carrots using a grater. This seems to work better than slicing or dicing for us. Likewise, using a sharp knife dice the celery into thin slices. Include the leaves and stalks, as the leaves have an excellent flavor. Set the celery aside.

Once the onions are carmelized, add the shredded carrots to the onions and add the broth. Mix and allow to come to a simmer. Add the seasoning. Cook 10 minutes.

Finally, add the celery to the broth. Stir it and bring to a simmer, then dump it into the large pot, covering the noodles. Do not overcook the celery.

Turn over the mixture to separate the noodles and create a uniform mix. Taste the broth after this process, and add the salt (add no salt if you have a salted broth your are using) to taste.

Serve and enjoy!

In the large pot, dump the likely somewhat stuck together noodles on top of the ground meat. Pout the vegetable broth