We have fresh tarragon growing out the wazoo. That’s a terribly vulgar way to put it, I know. And, depending on what you consider a wazoo to be, it would likely be considered a medical emergency if we actually did have tarragon growing out of it. But it is truly remarkable, how much fresh tarragon we have growing on our windowsill. The thyme is doing nicely, and the rosemary is too, but the tarragon is all over the place, almost crowding out the other herbs. And all the recipes I can find for tarragon take only a teaspoon or so, hardly enough to make a dent in our tarragon stockpile.
Every time I come across a good looking tarragon recipe, I bookmark it. But this soup is one that just came to me on it’s own. I was thinking how nicely lemon and tarragon go with chicken, which set me to thinking about a lemon chicken soup I’d once had long ago. It was a greek-style soup, with orzo and egg yolks, and I remember being surprised at how nice the addition of lemon was to a soup. For my own soup, I wanted a lighter broth, with noodles in it to make a heartier family meal. I found a lemon chicken soup from Giada De Laurentis that I used as a very basic guide, although I increased the overall amounts, skipped the parmesan and romano cheeses, and used egg noodles instead of spaghetti. And, obviously, added in tarragon.
Egg noodles are not exactly kind to diabetics, so for my portion, I added shirataki noodles instead. I was surprised by how well this turned out. I haven’t loved these low carb noodles heretofore, as they can be rather rubbery and have a slightly odd taste when you try to use them as pasta. But in this soup, they were perfect. The texture didn’t seem rubbery at all and the was no hint of that odd flavour. If you wanted to make the whole batch of soup low carb, you could simply add 3 or 4 packages of shirataki noodles and not miss out on anything.
The Results: This one was a hit with the whole family. Children tend tolike chicken noodle soup, and neither the lemon nor the tarragon were overpowering enough to turn my kids off. I myself would have liked the lemon to stand out a bit more, but my husband thought the flavour was just right. It was a light, refreshing broth with the slight anise flavour from tarragon, and lovely chunks of chicken and noodles. It made an excellent dinner the first night and the leftovers were good for lunches and quick meals.
Lemon Tarragon Chicken Noodle Soup
This recipe has been included in our cookbook, Low-Carbing Among Friends, Vol. 1. It is available for purchase at AmongFriends.us or at Amazon.com.
E Hufft says
Carolyn, please help. I purchased Low Carbing Among Friends Volume 1 just to get the recipe for Lemon Tarragon Chicken Noodle Soup. It came today, and that recipe is not in there!!! Where did I go wrong?
Carolyn says
That is a very old cookbook and I honestly cannot advise. They were horrible people to work with and I broke with them so chances are they purged my recipes. I’d ask for your money back!
Wendy Johnson says
Hi there…
I was able to find the book on Amazon but it’s $39. Is it published elsewhere?
Carolyn says
Not sure what book… Mine? This is a very very old post so I am trying to figure out what book we are talking about. My book is only $24 USD on Amazon.
Carolyn says
Anon – my email is on my "about" page but I will leave it here too…
carcur35 (at) yahoo (dot) com
Anonymous says
How can i ask you for more details? Great post needda know more….
Pretty. Good. Food. says
Sounds quick and yummy, I love it :)!
Anonymous says
Pikir saya akan komentar dan mengatakan tema rapi, apakah Anda membuatnya sendiri? Benar-benar luar biasa!
The Mom Chef says
That soup is definitely gorgeous. You're right about it being a perfect combination for the tarragon.
Regarding the wazoo thing; yeah, that's gross.
Regarding the tarragon, dry the extra and use it when there isn't any more.
Emily Z says
What a nice soup, I love all the soup recipes popping up this time of year! Nothing better in the colder weather!
smalltownoven says
This would be perfect for my current sore throat 🙁
Dimah says
This soup sounds wonderful! Love the flavors!
Emily (For Sweets Sake) says
mmm tarragon is so good!
Rich says
Wow – that looks great! Tarragon, coincidentally, is one of my favorite herbs, and my second favorite that starts with a T. Thyme's a tough one to beat.
Stella says
You're too funny, Carolyn. You know, tarragon is one of my favorite herbs (dried or fresh). It's so underrated. I can only imagine how wonderful a bowl of this soup must be. Yum!
Stephanie says
That soup looks so comforting and healthy! A great change of pace from all the Thanksgiving-y type foods these past few weeks. It looks like it would be one of those easy, relaxing kinds of meals to make, too. I love that.
Lindsey says
This chicken noodle soup sounds amazing! Such a perfect comfort food for a cold winter day!
Chef Chuck says
This soup would be great on these cold nights!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Ela says
i usually had roasted chicken w/ tarragon and lemon. now this is another way to cook it. great for this cool December nights.
congratulations on winning the cookbook.