Polish chicken soup recipe

I got this off of cooks.com and it is very similar to what I had as a kid. I remember there being whole allspice and 2 bay leaves-not sure what else. I made this tonight and all I added toit was 2 bay leaves. If you know of anything to add let me now. here it is.....
POLISH CHICKEN SOUP

This soup is simple to make and plain. There are some who claim that this soup is medicinal. There is something comforting about this soup and chances are it will become a favorite meal, especially on rainy days.
You will need: 1 sm. onion, quartered 1 sm. celery stalk with leaves, cut in 3 pieces 4 cloves garlic, put through a garlic press 1 tbsp. salt 1/8 tsp. pepper 2 1/2 qts. water

Put 2 1/2 quarts of water in a 4 quart pot. Remove half the skin from the chicken and rinse the chicken well. Put the chicken in the pot of water. Add the onion, celery, garlic, salt and pepper to the water. Bring the soup to a boil, turn it down and simmer the soup for 2 hours. Remove the chicken from the pot to a platter. Pour the broth through a strainer so that it is clear. Have 1/2 pound of fine egg noodles prepared and portioned off into soup bowls. Separate and serve the chicken. Ladle the broth over the noodles and chicken in the soup bowls. Serve with pocket bread. A simple fruit salad makes a nice appetizer.

Variation: Replace the onion and celery with a dill sprig. Use only the chicken breast. The result is a lighter, milder soup.

Forgot to add- It is better with homemade noodles. I didn't make them tonight because I do not have a rolling pin and didn't feel like using the side of a glass. This is also a realy good winter dish!

sounds similiar to my grandmother's chicken soup which I really really miss! I will never forget her making this for me when I was sick. It was the cure all soup! Last weekend at a nearby deli I bought some fresh chicken soup and it was really close to my gram's recipe, brought back alot of memories.

what about the real polish beetroot soup (borstch) I think that's how you spell it.Has anyone got a polish recipe for it? Wanda

it's very simple. you need fresh beetroot ( a few of them). slice and dice them (you can also mash them but it's not cool ;)). prepare stock. than you add the sliced beetroot, spice it up and it's pretty much it. the thing is it needs quite some time in a boil, before the juices are sucked out of the vegetables.

and it's always much better if you prepare the stock yourself instead of using a ready-to use stuff from a convenience store. that's because of fat that you get when boiling meet.
you can use whatever meet you chose, including chickin - this one's my favourite :)

you can serve it as it is or with added fresh cream. but don't boil it with cream.
you can serve it with pasta or ravioli. i think you can also add diced potato to the whole mixture/ you can boil it separately or in the whole mixture.