Soup Noodles

It’s been a rough couple of days in our household. My mother came down with a stomach flu on Tuesday, and Austin and I were copycats and decided to be sick on Wednesday. This morning, Austin was better, but I wasn’t, and Ryan was.

Usually when I’m sick I can still read about food. I think maybe its because when I read about food, its more of a fact-finding process rather than an imagining-what-it-tastes-like process. I read food blogs and cookbooks for the articles, not the pictures.

But yesterday, I couldn’t even do that.

By about 10:30 this morning, however, that all changed. I got hungry and food sounded good. And I even wanted to get up off my butt and cook something.

So I made soup noodles.

I pulled out a quart of frozen homemade chicken broth, dumped it in a pan with 2 cups of water, some chopped onions, a crushed clove of garlic and a couple of chopped up carrots. When it came to a boil, I added soy sauce until it tasted salty enough, then two “bunches” of my favorite organic udon noodles. Boil 5 minutes to cook the noodles, and we’re good to go. Better than packages of ramen, but without all the crap.

Corn Chowder for a Cold Day

I don’t get it. What is wrong with the weather around here? Apparently people who could see the outdoors and don’t work in a windowless basement (like I do) experienced snow, hail, sleet and rain. Just over a week ago was some of the prettiest weather we could have asked for.

I try to be optimistic, but sometimes, it’s just impossible.

So, to warm us all up from the nasty cold weather, I made a big pot of corn chowder. And to make it a little more special, I provided toppings for everyone to choose from.

This is a super-easy, super-quick, super-scrumptious dinner that everyone enjoys. Add a loaf of sourdough bread, and you’ll feel warm to the core.

Corn Chowder
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 c flour
4 c chicken broth
2 c milk
2 med/large yukon gold potatoes
1 bag frozen corn
salt & pepper

Cut the bacon in 1/2″ pieces, and fry until crisp. Remove bacon from pan. pour out all but about 1/4 c bacon grease. Add onions and saute in bacon grease until softened. Stir in flour and cook for a minute or two.

Add chicken broth and milk. Wash potatoes and cut into 1″ dice. Add to pot. Season with salt and pepper and cook until potatoes are tender.

While potatoes are cooking, whiz 1/2 bag of frozen corn in food processor until mostly smooth. Add milk or water to facilitate if necessary. After potatoes are tender, add pureed corn. Return soup to boil. Season to taste.

Remove from stove and stir in remaining 1/2 bag frozen corn.

Serve and enjoy. Topping suggestions we love include:
Tomatoes, cheddar cheese, jalapeno, green onions and the crisp bacon from the first step of the recipe.

PS: This makes EXCELLENT leftovers!

Proof that my son loves me…

He’s only heard about it, never tasted it for himself, but when Nick’s culinary teacher passed out the recipe for French Onion Soup, Nick decided he would make it for me cause he knows how much I love it.

Whoever created the combination of the perfectly warming-to-the-bottom-of-your-toes soup, with the crunchy bread and the ooey-gooey cheese on top, was a genius. And I thank him or her.

In preparation for the soup, I made some homemade beef broth a couple of weekends ago, using soup bones saved from the last time we filled our freezer with beef.

Nick couldn’t believe how long it took for the onions to carmelize and was very impatient during the process. The only change we made, was that we deglazed the pan with sherry, which is not an ingredient that was included in his high school recipe.

It is so much fun to see (and taste) Nick’s kitchen skills developing. He’s such a great kid.

French Onion Soup

2 1/2 pounds onions, sliced thin (we used 3 medium onions)
2 oz butter
6 cups beef stock
2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 t Worcestershire Sauce
salt & pepper to taste
Hearty bread, grated swiss, parmesan or other good melting cheese

In a heavy pan, over medium-low heat, melt butter and add onions, turning so they are all coated with butter. Carefully carmelize the onions without burning. This is a long, slow process and may take as long as 45 minutes. Cook them until VERY brown.

Deglaze the pan using some of the beef stock (we used a splash of sherry).

Add stock, thyme, pepper and Worcestershire. Bring to a boil, then simmer 20-30 minutes. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with bread and melted cheese.

Yum!

Comfort Foods

Comfort foods are a very personal thing. Within the same family, everyone has their own unique preferences.

Now Farmer Paul, he’s a gravy guy. Biscuits and sausage gravy, fried chicken liver with potatoes and cream gravy, pork chops with potatoes and cream gravy, turkey with giblet gravy…you get the idea.

Nick…well, Nick likes everything. But he really loves Tuna Pasta Salad. Austin goes for homemade burgers and baked beans and Ryan is all about Spaghetti and Pizza.

For me, it’s a good brothy soup. Zuppa Toscana-style potato soup, meatball soup and, best of all, chicken/turkey Noodle soup. Not just noodle soup, but Noodle with a capital “N” soup.

This is the soup I grew up with. A delicious, cooked-for-hours broth with chicken or turkey, carrots, onions, sometimes green beans and mounds of homemade noodles. It’s simple, but it’s just so…so…so warm. Austin and Ryan don’t care for the noodles much. Paul and Nick can take them or leave them as long as there’s plenty of broth. And that works great for me, cause I would just as soon eat all the noodles myself and leave the rest of the soup for them.

I wish I could give you an exact recipe for the noodles, but I can’t…sometimes it takes extra flour, sometimes extra milk. But this’ll get you started:

Before you begin the noodles, your broth (with your veggies of choice) must be completely cooked, ready to eat.

On the clean counter, make a pile of about 4 cups of flour. Then make a little ditch in the middle. Crack in 4 eggs, add 2 teaspoons salt and 4 Tablespoons of milk. Start mixing the wet ingredients with a fork, slowly incorporating the flour into the mixture.

At some point, it’ll get too hard to keep mixing with the fork. So get in there with your hands and mix until it comes together. Knead it a few times until it forms a smooth ball of dough, and then you’re done.

Make sure the counter is generously floured (you don’t want the noodles to stick), roll the dough out to about 1/8″ – 1/4″ thick. Use either a pizza cutter or a big knife to cut it into strips about 1/2″ x 1 1/2″. Drop the noodles into the pot of rapidly boiling stock. Stir the noodles down occasionally. After the noodles are all in, continue cooking for 10 minutes.

Eat as soon as it’s cool enough that you don’t burn your mouth.

And plan for leftovers…it’s even better the next day!