A vegetarian soup for those of us under the weather

That's one steaming pot of comfort food, right there.

The past few days have been sort of a setback for me, and from what I've gathered, for other people too. Some sort of bug is making its way around campus and it seems to have reached me.

I woke up on Ash Wednesday with a case of the sniffles and a headache. At first I chalked it up to the changes in the weather, and the fact that I got up earlier than usual for church. I did all my usual Wednesday things, including my run. But then at about 3:30pm, I crashed. I was so unusually fatigued that I took a long nap and didn't move much for the rest of the evening.

Fast forward to today. I felt significantly better, though still sniffly and tired. As much as I wanted to go for a run this afternoon, I decided that it's probably best to just wait it out. I'm hoping tomorrow or Sunday will be the day.

There is one good thing that's come out of this: a pretty good soup recipe.

Something that I've learned to pick up on over the years is that my body knows what it needs, especially when I'm sick. When I was trying to come up with something for dinner tonight, I realized that I wanted three things: onions, mushrooms, and spinach.

It took me a while to figure out to do with that combination. Salad? Too much chewing. Pasta? Maybe, but not what I really wanted. Soup? Yes! Broth, vegetables, and noodles. That was exactly what I needed.

I looked around for a recipe with those ingredients, but wasn't satisfied with any of them. I finally gave up and decided to wing it. I took a few ideas from the soup recipes I'd looked at and Ashley Lojko's Paprika Chicken (one of my favorite one-person chicken recipes). The result is what I'm calling Spinach & Mushroom Noodle Soup, until I or someone else can think of a better name. (Hint, hint.)

Spinach & Mushroom Noodle Soup
Makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, sliced into "half-moons"
1 clove minced garlic
1 small can mushrooms, drained
Pepper, parsley, and paprika (or whatever seasonings you like)
1 extra-large vegetable bouillon cube + 3 1/2 cups water (or vegetable broth)
1 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
2 cups fresh baby spinach

Steps

1.  Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cover the pan. After about 5-6 minutes, stir and cover it again.

2.  Check and stir the onions every few minutes until they start to turn slightly brown (I think this took about 10-12 minutes total). Add the mushrooms; cook and stir for another minute or two. (If you want to use fresh mushrooms, add them with the onions in the first step.)

3.  Add the bouillon, water, and seasonings. I took my inspiration from the Paprika Chicken recipe and used a little pepper, a few dashes of garlic powder, and lots of paprika. I also added some dried parsley and a shake of red pepper flakes (I think I'd leave the pepper flakes out next time, though).

4.  Bring the soup to a boil, add the egg noodles, and reduce the heat. Simmer uncovered until the noodles are cooked (8-10 minutes, maybe).

5.  Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach until slightly wilted.

And there you have it.

I apologize for the lack of photos and precise measurements in this post--I didn't think to take pictures or record details until the soup was almost done and I realized that it would be worth posting.

I'm hesitant to try and describe the soup, because my senses of smell and taste are a little out of whack right now. I felt that there was something a little "off" with the seasoning (I think it was the red pepper), but I can't be sure. But if you want to take my word for it, the soup was pretty good and almost exactly what I was craving. Plus, it came with a decent dose of Vitamins A and C, which couldn't hurt.

So for everyone who is sick right now: have a bowl of soup and feel better!

Last call for chicken soup! Or, going vegetarian for Lent

Chicken and bread soup.

Lent is coming up and I've been putting some thought into what I'd like to do for it. Most people think of Lent as a period of deprivation--fasting on holy days, avoiding meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday, and denying yourself something you enjoy like chocolate or Facebook. It is those things, or it can be, but it's more than that too.

I won't pretend to be an expert on my faith because I'm certainly not, but I think of Lent as a growing experience rather than a period of denial. Giving things up  can be part of it, but if that's all you focus on you're missing the best part: that by denying yourself a bad habit or an indulgence, you're growing and learning to be a better person. I think it's all too easy to forget that little piece, so for the past several years I've taken a new strategy: I give something up, but also try to add something--meditation, prayer, reading, or something else that helps me focus on the growth part of Lent, and not just the denial.

That said, as you can probably guess from the post title, I'm going vegetarian for Lent. (That is my task of denial; I haven't settled on a "growth" task just yet.) In preparation, I'm giving you my last meat-based recipe for the next couple of weeks.

This chicken and bread soup comes from the Solo Suppers book (with slight modifications). It is supposed to serve one, but I've never been able to finish it in one sitting so I recommend saving half for leftovers. It's deceptively simple, but incredibly delicious. I am sure going to miss this soup.

Chicken and Bread Soup

I estimate the size of a small carrot by lining up the
baby ones with the celery.

Ingredients

1 small onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small carrot (or a handful of baby ones), peeled and diced
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast or 2 tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
2 cups chicken broth (or bouillon and water)
Salt and pepper
Pinch of ground cinnamon
2 slices good bread (I used the Lifehacker ciabatta)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Steps

1.  In a wide saucepan melt 2 tablespoons of butter with the olive oil over medium heat. When it's bubbly, add the vegetables and saute about 10 minutes until soft. Add the chicken and saute about five minutes until cooked.

Before...

And after.

Add the chicken after the vegetables are cooked. You can also
make this with cooked chicken--add it during the last ten
minutes of simmer time.

2.  Add the wine and cook until it evaporates.

Use the wine to pick up any burned or
caramelized bits stuck to the pan.

3. Add the chicken broth, salt (if needed), pepper, and cinnamon. You might think the cinnamon sounds strange, but trust me--I was skeptical too, but it really makes this dish! Cover the pan and simmer 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is tender.

Add the broth...

...then pour yourself a glass of wine, because
it'll be a while...

 

...before it looks like this!

4. While the soup is simmering, melt the remaining butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the bread and cook until toasted and pale gold on both sides. Add one slice of bread to the bottom of a ramekin or other oven-safe dish.

I used three pieces because they were small: two for the bottom
and one for the top.

5. When the soup is ready, pour half of it into the ramekin over the bread. Top with the remaining bread and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-60 minutes, depending on how deep your dish is.

Before...

...and after.

6. Alternatively, cut your toasted bread into croutons and place them in the bottom of a bowl. Pour the soup over the croutons, top with cheese, and enjoy immediately.

As I've told several people, this soup is life-changing. For something with such simple ingredients, and very little seasoning, it's so full of flavor. The key is definitely the cinnamon--even though it's just a little bit, it adds warmth and accentuates the flavor of the chicken and the vegetables. The bread is the other all-star; it adds texture and bulk, making this a very filling soup.

Farewell, chicken soup. I will miss you.

French Onion Soup: An Exercise in Improvisation

The finished product.

I'm not an "improv" type of person. When I was in band back in high school, you'd never catch me making up a jazzy solo on an instrument; I stuck to the music. The same goes for cooking; I follow the recipe.

The problem is that I'm no longer cooking for the 4-6 people most recipes serve. I'm usually just cooking for myself so a lot of my favorite recipes have to be pared down, and sometimes you just have to do away with the recipe altogether.

Hence, this afternoon's improvisation: French onion soup.

I had some beef broth left over from last week's Italian wedding soup, so when I came across this super simple recipe for French onion soup from The Kitchn, I decided to use it up. My recipe is a conglomeration of the above and this one from How to Cook Like Your Grandmother (and maybe a few others mixed in).

Excuse the lack of precise measurements--this is improv, after all.

French Onion Soup (serves one very hungry grad student)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, sliced into thin strips
2 tbsp butter
Some minced garlic and/or other seasonings
A pinch of salt (if your butter is salted I would skip this)
A splash of wine
Some beef broth
Some water

Optional (for topping): Bread, Cheese

Steps:

Add broth, bring to a boil, and simmer.

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, salt (if using), and garlic/seasonings.
2. Choose to stir or not stir. Some recipes say to give everything a quick stir right away to coat it in butter, while others say to let it be and stir once the onions start to turn translucent.
3. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they caramelize and turn a nice brown color. The Kitchn says to not let the onions burn; Cook Like Your Grandmother says it's ok if some of them burn a little. Choose your own adventure.
4. Remove the pan from the heat, add a splash of wine, and stir. (Most recipes say to use a dry wine, but I used white zinfandel and it was fine.) Return to the stove and cook for a few minutes until most of the liquid is gone.
5. Add the beef broth. I had about 1 1/2 cups, so I added that with half a cup of water.
6. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until it has reduced and looks good to eat. (The Kitchn recommends at least half and hour; I could only wait about 20 minutes). Season with salt and pepper if necessary.
7. Optional: Toast a piece of bread in the oven/toaster oven until sufficiently toasty. You want to dry it out as much as possible without burning it. Put soup in an oven-safe bowl, top with the "crouton" and cheese (I used provolone) and put it under the broiler or in the toaster oven until the cheese has melted.

The Verdict: Despite the fact that I was very impatient and didn't simmer the soup as long as I probably should have, this was pretty decent French onion soup and it filled me up.

Things I'd Do Differently:

• Don't burn the onions. Really, don't. You will later taste the burned, charred bits in your soup (which is not something I particularly care for--maybe you're ok with it, though). Perhaps the taste would have been diminished with a longer simmer time.
• Use "good" bread for the crouton. The Kroger Lite Wheat sandwich bread was ok, but it got very soggy very fast. This would have been better with a denser, crustier bread.

So, there you have it. An improvised soup easily adapted to whatever you have on hand, as long as that includes onions and some kind of broth. Cheap, simple, and pretty darn delicious.