Chicken "Noodle" Soup

This is a tasty comforting cold weather, or just general pick me up, dish that I serve alongside a decent crusty loaf and some butter. Essentially this is my take on an American dish, however, in the states they use a "german style egg noodle" that I can't find an alternative for in the UK so I've swapped it out for mini fusilli pasta and added a few herbs to give it more flavour.

You will need:
2 tsp butter
1 medium onion
2 sticks of celery
2 medium carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 litre chicken stock
4 cooked chicken thighs
250g mini fusilli pasta
Pinch of salt and pepper

Method:
1. In a large pan melt the butter over a medium heat
2. Roughly dice the onion, celery and carrots, add to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions soften.
3. Add the sage, thyme, rosemary, black pepper and bay leaf then stir through the vegetables.
4. Pour in the stock, turn up the heat and bring to the boil, once boiling turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
5. Shred the chicken, add to the pan and allow the stock to come back up to a simmer.
6. Add the pasta, stir through and cook for the recommended cooking time.
7. Check the seasoning and add salt & pepper to taste.

Notes:
This is a pretty simple dish so it's the quality of the stock used that really makes it, if you can't get hold of a decent chicken stock use a cheap "stock pot" and add a small amount of oyster sauce and dark soy sauce to give it a richer flavour.