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French Fridays with Dorie: Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup
Last week when I had the tart finished by Thursday, I decided it was better to make the recipe for FFwD earlier in the week, leaving more time to write the post, so I organized myself to make this week’s recipe on Sunday. Unfortunately, my great plans for being organized went south (as they typically do).
Sunday afternoon, I was ready to start making Hachis Parmentier. After a quick visit the website, I realized that Hachis Parmentier is next week’s recipe. Oops. This week we are supposed to make the Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup. Because I had thawed the meat, that meant I had to make both. Oh, well. I’ll be very prepared next week because I’ve already made the recipe.
This week was pretty crazy. I wasn’t home for dinner most nights. Tuesday night, my book group had an outing to Harvard Square to hear Paul Harding read and answer questions about his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Tinkers, which we read back in August. He was an entertaining speaker, and it was fascinating to hear him talk about his path to becoming a writer.
Wednesday was the annual evening meeting for the Lexington Field & Garden Club. The program was an informative talk about the landscape of the nearby Minuteman National Historical Park. I had no idea how much the park has transformed the area over the past 30 years as major parts of the landscape have been restored to resemble the Minutemen’s surroundings during the fateful day of April 19, 1775. Trees have been cut down, asphalt roads have been dug up, and post-1920 suburban homes have been razed. I was most interested in the Park Service’s efforts to work to keep the agrarian traditions alive within the park’s boundaries. They land lease sections of the available pasture to local farmers. My favorite bit of information is the proper identification of the funky cows that graze on Route 2A. Initially, I was sure they were yaks. Later, I was convinced they were actually oxen. I learned that they are actually shaggy Highland Cattle.
Then, last night, I went to the movies with my movie buddy Jennifer. Out of an uninspiring field of current movies, we picked The Social Network, a movie about the origins of Facebook. It was much better than I expected. Even though he was a Harvard student, the Mark Zuckerberg character reminded me of so many of my classmates at MIT. Actually, all the computer geeks in the movie reminded me much more of MIT students than any Harvard students I’ve ever met.
Back to the soup. I made the broth on Monday night, but we didn’t get around to eating the soup until tonight (Friday’s) dinner. The comments from FFwDers that made the soup earlier in the week were mixed, so I wasn’t sure whether I’d like it. I did. Howard gave it “4 spoons out of 5”. I though the soup was perfect for the plentiful chilly days that have arrived for October in New England.
I used frozen homemade chicken stock, so it started with a flavorful base. The broth smelled amazing as it simmered. Based on the recipe, I was a little unsure what to do with the cheesecloth bundle and whether to strain the chopped vegetables from the broth. I was making the broth ahead, so I opted to remove the bundle and leave all the veggie bits. Like others, I was also unsure what two points of star anise meant. I ended up using two whole stars, but the flavor wasn’t too strong.
I had both fine rice vermicelli and wider rice sticks in the pantry. I opted for the rice vermicelli. I liked the texture, and they cooked really fast.
I served our soup accompanied by fresh mint (which I still have in my herb garden), lime wedges, bean sprouts, and some extra chopped cilantro. I had harvested the last of my basil last weekend. While I now have a large bag of chopped basil cubes in the freezer, that wasn’t going to work in this soup, so I skipped the basil. We also used the suggested condiments, adding a dab of hoisin sauce and a drizzle of hot chili oil to our bowls.
I’ll definitely make this soup again. I’m looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I liked all the flavors. There’s not much I’d change about it. I’d probably use less chicken and experiment with adding some vegetables.
By the way, the reason I’m not including the recipe is that one of the rules for French Fridays with Dorie is that I’m not supposed to post the recipes. If you think a recipe sounds appealing, you can buy the book, or you can come for dinner.
Ciao to Corn
We had a great weekend visit with my dad and my stepmother Susan. People from my side of the family don’t visit very often, so it was a great treat.
Susan is an interior decorator, so she helped me spruce up a couple of rooms. No major changes, but the details matter a lot. We repositioned the furniture and added a new lamp and some tasseled tiebacks for the curtains and replanted a planter filled with dead plants. It looks great!
They also brought one of our family treasures: a full-length painting that my grandmother posed for when she was a young woman. It always hung in her apartment. My dad’s had for a while, but now it’s hanging in our living room.
On Saturday (the only sunny day of the weekend), we went to Concord Center. They have such a vibrant town center. The stores are interesting and not like “everywhere else”. Lexington Center is dull in comparison. I’m jealous. My favorite spots are Nesting (a funky antique shop), Muse’s Window (a great craft shop that used to be in Lexington), the Concord Cheese Stop, and the Concord Bookshop.
We ate well – nothing new, really, just a lot of tried and true favorites. My dad is not the most adventurous eater, and has strong opinions about what he won’t eat. We had chili, crab cakes, steak (with potato salad and creamed spinach), and fancy hot dogs from our Chestnut Farms CSA. We had corn on the cob with every meal, probably some of the last of the corn this season.
I made it to the Lexington Farmers’ Market yesterday. I won gift certificates at a raffle on a super-rainy day in August, so I wanted to spend them. The tide has shifted from summer to fall produce. The squash and apples were plentiful, tomatoes dwindling and corn nonexistent. I bought salmon from Globe Fish, delicata and acorn squash and carrots from Blue Heron Farm, and poblano peppers and leeks from Stillman Farms.
To start off the week, I also made a pot of soup. This is one of the late-season tomato soups that I saw in the Boston Globe magazine a few weeks ago – the Roasted Tomato Bisque with Corn and Basil. I’d give the soup mixed reviews. The bisque itself was excellent! I thought six cups of corn was too much. If I make it again (next year, corn and tomato season is pretty much over) I would use half the corn.
I will try to make the tomato bisque with roasted canned tomatoes over the winter though. I’ve made a side dish from roasted canned tomatoes before, and the flavor is similarly intense to the roasted fresh ones. I think they’d work in the soup. I still have plenty of basil in the garden, so when I harvest it this weekend, I plan to freeze it to preserve some off-season bursts of summer.
Roasted Tomato Bisque with Corn and Basil
From this recipe from the Boston Globe
Makes about 3 quarts
3 pounds (about 6 medium) tomatoes, halved crosswise
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 cups chicken broth or corn stock
1/3 cup long grain-white rice
½ cup chopped fresh basil
3 cups corn kernels, cut off 3 or 4 medium ears
½ cup half-and-half
Set the oven rack in the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Squeeze tomato halves into a sieve set over a bowl to remove seeds; save the juice. Line a baking sheet with foil, place the tomato halves on it cut sides down, and roast until tomatoes are collapsed and browned, about 55 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking time. When the tomatoes cool, slip off and discard the skins and set the tomato halves aside. (I did this the day before and put the tomatoes in the fridge.)
Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and ½ teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Add the broth, rice, roasted tomatoes and their juices, and the reserved tomato juice, increase the heat to high, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in the chopped basil.
In a blender, puree the tomato mixture until smooth, return to the pot, and add corn kernels, half-and-half, 1½ teaspoons salt, and pepper to taste. Heat over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until corn is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning, if necessary, and serve, garnishing with more basil.
A Plateful of Happiness 