Recipe- Japanese Style Noodle Soup

Japanese Style Noodle Soup

Adapted from “Asian Pasta” by Linda Burum

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 cups water

One 2 inch square piece of konbu (type of dried seaweed)

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon Sugar

2 tablespoons sake or dry sherry (or cooking wine in a pinch)

1 chicken breast (boneless or bone in)

½  16 oz. package of Thai rice noodles, cooked according to package directions and rinsed briefly to prevent sticking

A couple of handfuls of fresh spinach, cleaned and sliced into thin strips

½ lb. (aprox.) shitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (use the stems, they cook up nicely)

In a large saucepan, bring the broth, water, konbu and chicken breast to boil.  As soon as it boils, turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes.  This will poach the chicken breast.

Remove the chicken breast.  Set it aside to cool.  When it is cooled, shred it (by hand is the easiest).  Meanwhile, remove the konbu from the broth and discard, add the soy sauce, sugar, sake or sherry to the broth, and heat to a simmer.  Add the spinach and mushrooms, cook at a simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

Divide the noodles among 4 bowls.  Divide the shredded chicken among the bowls.  Add the broth mixture to each bowl and enjoy.

This is the noodle soup that kept me going through the Snowmageddon... enjoy! 

Recipe- Grandma Freese's Chocolate Cake

Grandma Freese’s Chocolate Cake

In a small saucepan bring to a boil:

2 sticks butter

1 cup water

2 tablespoons Droste’s coco powder (we recommend Droste’s – nothing else tastes quite the same).

Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer, combine:

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

With the machine running on low, pour the contents of the saucepan into the mixing bowl, mixing well.  The batter will be very runny.  Pour the contents into a greased and floured 9 x 13’ baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the cake is baking combine the following is a small saucepan:

2/3 stick butter

2 tablespoons Droste’s coco powder

4 tablespoons milk.

Bring this mixture to a boil.  Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2/3 of a package powdered sugar, stirring until smooth.

When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and immediately pour the frosting mixture over the hot cake.  It will soak in, making the cake fudgey.  Allow cake to cool.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy! This cake is amazing, and it tastes even better when it's a couple of days old! 

Soup on a (REALLY) Snowy Day

To the weather: PLEASE STOP SNOWING!!! Hasn't it been enough? There's already two feet on the ground! Do we need any more? NO!!! I don't see any advantages to this blanketing of snow, so please give it up. Sincerely, The DC Teen Foodie.

Actually, there is one advantage, and that is soup! After going out in the snow and wandering around looking at all the stuck sand trucks, the one thing you want when you get home is soup. Today didn't disappoint. My mom found a recipe for Asian chicken-noodle soup and it was amazing. The broth was vegetable broth, soy sauce, sugar, some seaweed, and the chicken was poached in it. The noodles were just plain rice noodles. There was also spinach and shitaake and button mushrooms. It was sort of like pho in that you could mix in whatever you wanted. I can't really describe it, but it tasted like soy sauce and warm and cozy. The best thing was that I could eat it while watching the snow pour down. I think there's almost 3 feet now.

Another thing I forgot to write about yesterday is the fudge cake I made yesterday. It's my great-grandmother's recipe. It's called a fudge cake because you make a fudge type sauce that you pour over the hot cake just as it comes out of the oven so it soaks in and makes the cake fudgy. I don't get to make it often anymore because it calls for Droste's cocoa powder (it's a really nice Dutch brand) and the stores around here don't seem to sell it anymore. We finally managed to find some before Christmas, so I've gotten the chance to make the cake again. Yes, I could make it with other inferior cocoa powder, but it changes the consistency and the taste. Better not to make it than make it wrong. Hmm... that's a good motto, isn't it?