Zeamă de Găină cu Tăiței

Ingredients

• 1 free range chicken, about 1.4 kg, jointed
• 3.5 litres cold water
• 2 onions
• 2 carrots
• 1 red pepper
• 150 g celeriac
• 1 parsnip
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 400 ml borș acru, fermented wheat bran liquid, or 4 tbsp white wine vinegar with 200 ml water
• 1 large bunch of fresh lovage
• 1 small bunch of dill
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 200 g plain flour, for the noodles
• 2 eggs, for the noodles
• 0.25 tsp salt, for the noodles
• 6 hot green peppers, to serve

Before you cook

• Joint the chicken into eight pieces and rinse them under cold water.
• Peel the onions and cut one in half and chop the other finely.
• Peel the carrots and cut them into rounds.
• Peel the celeriac and parsnip and cut them into small dice.
• Deseed the red pepper and dice it.
• Score, peel and chop the tomatoes.
• Strip the lovage leaves from the stalks and chop them.
• Chop the dill.
• Tip the noodle flour onto the worktop, make a well, crack in the eggs, add the quarter teaspoon of salt and work it into a very firm dough.
• Knead the noodle dough for 8 minutes until smooth, then wrap it and rest it for 30 minutes.

Steps

1. Put the chicken pieces in a large pot and cover them with the cold water.
2. Bring the pot slowly to a boil over medium heat.
3. Skim the foam from the surface until the broth runs clear.
4. Add the halved onion, the peppercorns and one teaspoon of the salt.
5. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes.
6. Roll the rested noodle dough out on a floured surface until you can see the worktop through it.
7. Hang the sheet over the back of a chair or a clean cloth for 15 minutes to dry until leathery.
8. Roll the dried sheet up loosely and slice it into noodles two millimetres wide.
9. Shake the noodles out on a floured tray so they do not stick together.
10. Lift the chicken out of the broth and set it aside.
11. Fish out and discard the halved onion.
12. Add the chopped onion, carrots, celeriac, parsnip and red pepper to the broth.
13. Simmer for 15 minutes, until the root vegetables are tender.
14. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
15. Bring the borș to a boil in a separate small pan, then skim it.
16. Pour the boiled borș into the soup and taste it, adding more until the soup is pleasantly sour.
17. Pull the chicken meat off the bones in large pieces and return it to the pot.
18. Bring the soup back to a rolling boil.
19. Scatter the noodles in and cook them for 4 minutes, until they float and are just tender.
20. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the lovage and dill.
21. Season with the rest of the salt, cover the pot and let it stand for 10 minutes so the herbs infuse.
22. Ladle into deep bowls and serve with a hot green pepper and bread on the side.