Jewish chicken soup

Method

1. Clean the stewing chicken under cold running water and place in a large stockpot. Add the celery, carrots, turnips, parsnips, onion and dried parsley to the pan. Cover with cold water and 1 tablespoon of chicken bouillon powder for every 600ml water used. Bring to the boil.

2. Turn the heat down to low, cover the saucepan and leave to simmer gently for 5-7 hours. You can test the soup is ready by using a fork - the chicken should be so soft that it should practically falls away from the bone and the soup should be a deep golden-brown colour. Strain the soup into a clean pan and add salt and pepper, to taste. You can make the soup in advance up to this point and keep it, covered, in the fridge once cooled - simply remove any excess fat on the surface of the soup with a spoon when you are ready to cook it.

3. If you are using golden eggs, wash them and peel off the outer membrane. Add the golden eggs to the soup and bring it back to the boil. If you are using matzo balls, you can also reheat the pre-prepared matzo balls in the soup. Boil for about 5 minutes.

4. While the eggs are cooking, boil the egg noodles in a pan of boiling salted water according to manufacturer’s instructions and divide the noodles between 10 bowls. Top up the serving bowls with the soup and serve hot.