Jayne: When Cathy and I grew up, our Dad would get scrapple from the Amish at the farmer’s market and cook it up on Saturdays. He loved it, but it made our house smell.
The Amish sell great food at farmer’s markets and restaurants throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Meats, noodles, pies and cakes.
Chicken and Noodles is a typical dish served in Indiana family restaurants. It’s made with chicken or beef. It’s basically shredded chicken (or beef) with rich broth – ladled over buttery mashed potatoes. Trust me. You need the mashed potatoes – it makes the dish. It’s really good comfort food. Perfect for winter.
This recipe is actually a chicken and dumplings recipe (with noodles instead of dumplings). Thanks to my friend Barb from Ohio who passed along an Ina Garten gem. Many of the local recipes are simpler – just chicken, water, celery, noodles (handmade) and mashed potatoes. I like the additional vegetables in the broth.
- 1 whole chicken
- 8 cups chicken stock (or 4 cups water/4 cups stock)
- 4 carrots, cleaned and cut into chunks
- 6 stalks celery (4 stalks cut into chunks, 2 stalks sliced thinly) divided
- 4 sprigs parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 onions, cut into quarters
- 6 peppercorns
- Salt & ground pepper
- 1 bag of thick egg noddles (Amish)
- 4 cups mashed potatoes
- Place chicken in a large pot. Add vegetables and stock, peppercorns, parsley and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 1 hour 20 minutes, until chicken falls off the bone.
- Remove chicken from the pot and place in bowl. Let cool and shred the chicken. Throw away the bones and skin. Remove the vegetables from the pot and throw away.
- Return stock to a boil, add the thinly chopped celery and cook the noodles per the directions on the package. Add the chicken to warm it. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place warmed mashed potatoes on plates/soup plates. Ladle noodles, chicken and broth over potatoes and serve.
Recipe for Chicken and Noodles inspired by Ina Garten.
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