I am by no means an expert at cooking. Everything I make is
an experiment. I learned what I do know about cooking from observing my
parents. I don’t like to use recipes because I find it cumbersome. It just doesn’t work for me.
I’d like to share my rather wacky cooking techniques with you, because I think that
some people may be intimidated by the thought of cooking if they feel there are
a lot of mistakes to be made. I don’t believe that. My food may not win any
prizes and sometimes I add too much cayenne, but it’s always edible :)
Anyway. Last night I thought I was catching what’s going
around work so I decided to make a chicken noodle soup. It came out great! So I
thought I’d share it with you.
[Approximate] Ingredients:
White onion, 1 large, chopped
Garlic, 2-3 cloves, chopped
Carrot, 1 large, chopped
Celery, 2-3 large stalks (or 4-5 small ones), chopped
Chicken tenders, 1 package, (sorry! I didn’t note the
weight. Trust yourself to eyeball it! J
), cut up into small bits
Better than Bouillon chicken base, a little less than 1Tbsp
Salt, pepper, dried rosemary, ground ginger, to taste
Juice of 1 lemon
Egg noodles, a little less than a 12oz package
Water
Olive oil
In a large pot, add enough olive oil to thinly coat the
bottom and heat over medium.
Add your onions and garlic. Bring the heat up a little.
Sauté, covered, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent.
Add the carrots and celery. Cook a bit longer.
Add your chicken. Cook until chicken is cooked through.
(Just a note, I use chicken tenders because they are cheap. Then I stand over
the kitchen sink and cut out the freaky bits—like tendons—and cut the chicken
into small pieces. The size doesn’t matter, whatever you want!)
Add your seasonings. If you are not familiar with how strong
your seasonings are, you can wait to do this step until your water is added.
Add your egg noodles. I would guess that I used about 10oz of a 12oz bag.
Fill your pot the rest of the way with water. Eyeball the
liquid-to-solid ratio until it looks like soup to you.
If you’ve not yet added your seasonings, do so now. That way
you can taste test as you go. Add much less than you think you’ll need, so you
don’t over season.
Cover and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat (and don’t
forget it on the stove and let it boil over like I did). Once simmering, reduce
the heat to low and allow to simmer until the noodles and carrots are cooked
through. I think mine took about ten minutes or so. Maybe fifteen. You can stir
as often as you want and check for softness.
Et voilà! You have soup. It’s a lot easier than it seems
sometimes. I love to cook and experiment with different flavor combinations. If
it tastes good to you then it’s a success! My soup definitely was.
Please share your noodle soup experiences in the comments!
Peace & Love
-A.
P.S. I apologize for the questionable photography. I am temporarily confined to my iPhone camera. Also, the lighting in my kitchen is very poor.... Better photos for future posts! Promise :)
