Chicken Noodle Soup with Sage

It's been cloudy all day.  Of course, sunny California will be cloudy the day after I buy a plant that requires full sun.  The first day I kept changing its location, following the sun.  It's a good thing there's no sun today, it frees up a lot of time.  In fact, I can even try to stare at the chicken breast in the fridge and ruminate about how it will turn into dinner.  Clouds, chicken, extra tomatoes on the vine, green beans slowly softening in the bottom of the veggie drawer, all the makings for a great soup.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 stalk celery, sliced

1 medium carrot, diced

1/2 cup green beans, cut in 1-inch pieces

4 small plum tomatoes, diced

2 sage leaves or 4 basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley or two sprigs fresh

1 small bay leaf

1 chicken breast, cut in bite-size pieces

1/4 cup white wine or 1 tablespoon vinegar

4 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

1/4 pound your favorite noodles for soup

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil on medium heat in a 5-quart casserole.  Add the onions, celery and carrots and cook for 3-4 minutes to sweat.  Add the green beans and cook two minutes longer, then add the tomatoes and herbs and cook until the tomatoes start to soften (another two minutes).  Add the chicken, salt and pepper, raise the heat to medium high and cook until the chicken looks opaque on all sides and all the liquid has evaporated.  The flavors are now concentrated.  Add the wine and dislodge any stuck bits.  Cook until the liquid evaporated again.  Now you have added some acidity.  If you're not using wine, simply add vinegar with the stock in the next step.  Add the stock, cover and cook for 10 minutes to cook the chicken through and marry the flavors.  Add the pasta and cook through.

Why sage? Especially when basil complements tomatoes so much better?  A few days ago I asked my Dad to get some thyme for the gallette from my garden.  First time he returned with a sprig of rosemary.  Then he came back with a couple sprigs of lavender and a few sage leaves.  Eventually he got the thyme, but I wound up with some drying herbs on my counter.  I decided to use the sage in this soup, and it added a surprisingly pleasant holiday aroma. 

By the way, if you're using a good chicken or vegetable stock, you may delete celery and carrot.  Onions, celery and carrot are the trio required to make soups, and your store-bought (or home-made) stock will already have those aromas infused in it.  Even though onions and bay leaves are also already in the stock, I always include them when I poach chicken in any liquid.