Chicken and Spinach with Noodles Soup

It's a matter of fact in the South that when you are sick you eat chicken soup.  Usually it's a basic chicken noodle soup but sometimes it's a little different.  The past couple of weeks the good wife and I have been trying to fight off some bug that's going around.  Being a large semidomesticated animal I ended up with just a sinus infection and a cough.  The good wife got hit a bit harder.  When she gets sick I cook according to how she's feeling.

A few days ago I'd asked her what she wanted for supper and she said chicken soup, with spinach.  Naturally I made it happen.  It was tasty and easy to bring together.

I used my pressure cooker but the same thing can be done with a stock pot and more time.  The recipe will be written as I did it in the pressure cooker so adjust as necessary.

Chicken and Spinach with Noodles Soup

4 chicken leg quarters
1 box chicken broth
4 oz spaghetti noodles
2 cups spinach, rough chopped
salt
pepper

Place the leg quarters in the pressure cooker with a little water and cook under pressure for 20 - 25 minutes.  The meat should easily pull from the bones.  Pull the meat from the bones and roughly chop and return to the pressure cooker.  Add the box of chicken broth and stir.  Break the spaghetti noodles in half and add to the pressure cooker.  Pressure cook the chicken and noodles for 8 minutes.  Stir in the roughly chopped spinach until it is wilted.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  This will serve 4.

A fresh pot of soup ready to go

Once the timer goes off on the pressure cooking for the chicken you can let it naturally release pressure or you can manually release.  When it finishes after adding the spaghetti manually release the pressure.  When manually releasing pressure follow the manufacturer's guidelines and be safe about it.

We had cornbread leftover so some of it was reheated to accompany the soup.  They went very well together.

A filling and healing supper

Alternate methods to achieve this are varied.  One would be simmering a whole chicken until falling off the bone tender and using the resulting broth for the soup.  Another would be shredding a rotisserie chicken from the store.  Homemade broth is always best but a good quality boxed broth is good as well.

Whether you're feeling poorly or just want soup because it's cold, give this one a try and let me know what you think.

Uncle T