Home-made Noodles post Halloween

Mmmmm...fat, succulent home-made noodles just like Mom taught me.  Nothing better for these chilly fall evenings.  Now if those bums that call myself my family had saved me any on Halloween I wouldn't have had to cook a second batch! Kidding.  I did make a huge pot of chicken and home-made noodles for Halloween night but I'm nothing but flattered that they were all gone that evening.  Funny, and one of my brothers had even brought his own plastic to-go containers to scam leftovers with. Sorry, Kenneth!

So last night, Gene had home-made noodles AGAIN but this time I chose to make beef and noodles to give him a little different taste sensation.

What can I say? They hit the spot! 

I love this recipe because even though my mother and I had a rocky relationship most of my life, we were a good team in the kitchen. As I've said before, my mother was a wonderful cook and an outstanding baker. She had a cake decorating business out of our home and I was drafted at an early age, as the oldest daughter of five kids, to be her sous chef and dishwasher. As I aged I graduated in my duties in Mom's kitchen to being her baker, assistant decorator, and the fill-in chef for family dinners. That's where the noodles come in. They're not hard at all but writing down the recipe is. You know how it is with recipes you've made for years, so long and so naturally that you no longer measure anything or think about what you're doing.  It's the same with this but Halloween afternoon when I made them, I did try to pay attention and write down the details: 

Karen's Home-made Noodles

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Fresh herbs (optional)

4 egg yolks

Milk to form dough

The dough can be made by hand but since my big mixer is usually sitting on the cabinet, I usually just throw everything in there and blend it all quickly with the paddle.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together into mixer bowl.  Add egg yolks and begin to mix on low.  Add milk until dough forms, wet enough to stick together but firm enough to require minimum flour on the cabinet.  Do not overmix.

Roll dough out on the cabinet to an eigth to a quarter inch depending on how thick you want the pasta, and then mark off noodles with either a pizza cutter or a fondant cutter.  The fondat cutter will make nice waves or jagged edges with even imprints if you want to go to that trouble.  Personally, I was feeling lazy yesterday so the pizza cutter was as far as my laziness would reach.

Gather up the extra flour on the sides of the dough and toss it over the noodles.  This extra flour will help thicken the broth of whatever soup you're using.  Allow the noodles to dry on the counter for at least 2 hours, longer if possible.

To cook, bring broth up to a rolling boil and drop noodles, along with excess flour from cabinet into the pot in batches. Allow each batch to cook a little and stir to separate before adding next batch or they'll possibly clump together in a ball.  That would not be pretty.  Cook for approximately 20-30 minutes depending on thickness of noodles.  To test for doneness, cut into a noodle. The inside should be dry, not doughy.

Comments

[Kalyn]

My mom made noodles just like this, and everyone in my family calls them "fat noodles." Never tried them with beef though, just chicken. I'm the only one in my family who will put even the slightest hint of a veggie in there, for everyone else it's just noodles, broth and chicken. True comfort food.

[Michelle]

These look great! I have never seen noodles made this way before; I am going to have to give it try the next time I make a big pot of chicken noodle soup! Thanks for sharing :)

[Wendy]

These look delicious! I am salivating at the thought of them. I make a family homemade noodle recipe too. It is from my Grandma who's parents' came from Slovakia. The noodles are thinner no leaven and I boil them right away. I will try your version! Wendy

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

Golly those look and sound like the noodles my grandmother used to make. Those would be beautiful with some Turkey noodle soup after Thanksgiving.

[Glenna]

Kayln--I like that--"fat noodles". I've also heard people call them dumplings but to me dumplings have baking soda in them and are rounded and fluffy. I know what you mean about the veggies. I didn't put anything but onion in the beef broth but my chicken soup has tons of finely diced veggies in it. I think it tastes so much better!

Michelle--Thanks for the ocmpliment. If you do it, let me know how it turned out, okay?

Wendy--Yes! I've made noodles that way too. I like them also and mom made them both ways. It's my personal preference to use the baking powder and make them chubby. :-)

Tanna--Oh wow! GREAT idea!!! They would be a great way to use leftover turkey.

[Ashley]

We do something similar (and call them dumplings as was mentioned) but we don't let them dry and only cut the dough one direction and let them break when we're dropping them in the broth =] regardless, very yummy stuff <3

[Glenna]

Ashley--That does sound very similar and some of my family calls what I call noodles, dumplings, Interesting that you let them break up on their own. That's cool.

[Deborah]

I was just at my parent's house last night for my dad's birthday, and my mom made chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles - they look exactly like these!! I'll have to get her recipe and compare the two!!

[sher]

Drool! I grew up eating these too! They are wonderful. My family always asks for them.

[Glenna]

Deborah--that's a great idea. I'd love to see the differences. As simple as noodles are, there are different ways of doing it.

Sher--Yes! It's a very southern thing, isn't it?

[Dani]

I'd call them slippery dumplings, I think. They look tasty! I'm going to save the recipe for use one day!

[Glenna]

Thans, Dani!