My Dad died almost two years ago. He farmed while my mom taught special ed, and so he was the one who took care of us when we were sick and he did a lot of the cooking. He frequently made things like fried chicken, sourdough pancakes or eggs and fried cornmeal mush at breakfast (must use bacon fat), Swiss steak, or pan fried walleye. It’s Father’s Day and I’ve been thinking about him and wanted to share one of my favorite dishes of his.

Dad used to make chicken soup with homemade noodles. My siblings and I always wanted Dad to make it instead of Mom because he was much messier with the flour and the broth would thicken until the dish was no longer soup, but not quite stew. We called it Dad’s Chicken Stoup.

Start with the noodles. Put a cup of flour in a bowl and add about 1 tsp salt and stir well. Don’t put the flour away, you’re going to need it later. Make a well in the center of the flour and add an egg.

Add Egg

Stir with a fork until it comes together in a nice ball that cleans the sides of the bowl.

If it is too dry, add a little water. Just a little – you can always add more. If you added too much water, add a little flour; this isn’t a precise recipe. The dough ball shouldn’t be sticky.

I often add frozen spinach (thawed, drained and well squeezed) with the egg or dried herbs to the flour (½ to 1 tsp depending on the herb – ½ tsp for sage, 1 tsp for marjoram), but Dad never did, so I won’t today. If you do add spinach, you won’t need any water and will need to add extra flour. Set the dough aside to rest.

Next, make the soup. This is your basic chicken soup. Chop onions, garlic, carrots and celery.

If we had mushrooms, Dad would sometimes add them, or green beans, otherwise, just the basics. I’m doing just the basics today. Sauté the chopped vegetables in a little oil until they start to soften. Sprinkle with a salt. It will help the vegetables throw off liquid and improve the flavor of the soup.

I usually add the onions and let it cook for a while, then add the celery, carrots and garlic.

When the onions are nicely translucent, add chicken broth and cooked chicken meat and bring to a boil. Add about 1 tsp or so of dried thyme. Dad always used leftover roasted chicken, and so do I. I also make my own broth from vegetable trimmings and the leftover bones from roasting a chicken.

Let the soup cook until the vegetables are done. While the soup is cooking, finish making the noodles.

Split the dough into two balls. After it has rested, it will be sticky because the moisture from the egg and any added water gets absorbed into the flour. Put plenty of flour on the board and roll one of the dough balls in it.

Roll out the dough very thin, using more flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or the board. When you are done, sprinkle the dough with more flour, then gently roll it up into a cylinder.

This will prevent it from sticking to itself.

Slice it into strips and then unroll the noodles.

Put them back in the bowl and toss with yet more flour.

Repeat with the second dough ball. I usually skip rolling the dough into a cylinder, cutting it, and unrolling the noodles. Instead, once I have it rolled thin, I cut it into strips using a pizza cutter. Today, I’m doing it Dad’s way.

When you are happy with the doneness of the vegetables, drop the noodles into the soup a few at a time.

The noodles cook fast (about one to two minutes) and swell as they cook.

This is my true comfort food because it reminds me of Dad every time I make it.

Note that if you have leftovers, the noodles will continue to soak up the liquid and the broth will continue to thicken. I like it best the next day when most of the broth has soaked into the noodles and what is left is thick and stew-like. If you want it to still be soup-like, you will need to add more broth when reheating.