Chicken and Noodles

So, I am not a food blogger.  I love to read foodie blogs.  I love to drool over the pretty pictures and pin them on Pinterest.  But as you know, my blog mostly focuses on my family.  However, today I am going to share with you a family recipe.  This Chicken and Noodles recipe has been passed down for generations.  I remember eating them at all of our family holiday dinners over the years.  My Dad used to come over to my house and help me make them.  I have never really mastered his technique, but I will attempt to share it with you.  Get ready for comfort food at it's best!

Here's what you will need:

For a pretty huge size batch of these babies you will use
4 eggs
4 t. salt
4 T water
1 whole chicken
And enough flour to make "dough".  How do you like that for specifics?  I actually doubled the recipe today, as I was bringing some dinner to a friend as well as feeding our family, so I used about half a bag of flour.

Start off by putting your chicken into a pressure cooker.  Put enough water in the cooker to go about half way over the chicken.  Salt and Pepper it.  Again, no real measuring here.  Just eyeball it.

You will note that I used more water because I was doubling the batch.  Stay with me here.  Put the lid on it, crank the heat up to high.  When the little weight on top starts to rock back and forth, you can lower the heat to medium and set your timer for one hour.  Now it's time to make noodles!

Mix eggs, salt, and water in your stand mixer.

It helps if you have a really cute assistant to help, of course.  Then start to add flour, about a half cup at a time until it forms a dough that is non-sticky enough that you can lift it out of the bowl.  Is non-sticky a word?  This is why I am not a food blogger...

Try not to knead the dough too much, as that will make it tough.  But do make sure your counter is really floured.  Now start to roll it out.  You might want to work with only half the dough at a time.  Get it as thin as you can, and then use a really sharp knife to cut matchstick thin noodles (they expand when you cook them!)

This part takes a while.  This is not a speedy recipe.  Think cold winter day.  When you are all done cutting noodles spread them out on the counter so that they can dry out a little.  

 After your chicken is done cooking, take it off of the heat and LET IT COOL COMPLETELY before trying to take the lid off.  My Dad put the fear of God in me about this.  Something about the thing exploding?  I don't know, I wasn't really listening...  Anyways, if you are in a rush you can run the pot under cool water to speed this up.  But if you are in a rush you probably should order a pizza.

When you get the lid off the pot, you can begin "Pickin' Chicken".  It is good if you have time to let the whole thing completely cool off, otherwise you will burn the crap out of your fingers, like I always do.  So, using a slotted spoon, fish out all the chicken and put it in a bowl.  Don't dump the broth.  You are going to need that.

"Pick" through the chicken, sorting meat from....um, other parts.  Shred the meat and put it back in the pot.  Turn the heat up on the pot, with the lid off, until it boils again.  Add your noodles and cook about 20 more minutes.

At this point, you can optionally add a few drops of yellow food coloring.  My dad was adamant about this, as was his mother.  One time someone switched the lids on the food coloring, and so Grandma made a batch of pink noodles!  

So there you have it!  The Brummett Family Chicken and Noodles!  De-Lish!!!