Chinese Beef Noodle Soup (adventure!)

While searching for something else last fall, I ran into a video of Chinese noodles being made.  I had never seen anything like that before and was intrigued.  Then I ran into this video that is sort of a tutorial.  Moments later I emailed Cache and asked him if he wanted to try them with me over Christmas break.  And moments later I heard back from him: of course he did!  He loves culinary adventures as much as me!  All we needed was a few recipes.

When it came time to make this, we could not find the video above to know how to make the soup base.  So we used this one as a base instead.  (Tom says they are both authentic, the one we used is from northern China with a lot of spice and the other is a typical southern fare.)

I found a noodle recipe with grams as the measuring standard, so thankfully Mathematician Cache was able to translate that into something usable for us.  The noodles were quite tricky and we were terribly unsuccessful at getting them pulled and stretched.  We don't know whether it was our dough or our lack of experience or both.  But we have ideas for improvement for next time.  We did however, roll them out thin and sliced them.  It is a wonderful alternative if we can't ever figure out the pulling and stretching bit.  The recipe we used was so small that at last minute I sent Tom to buy some packaged fresh Chinese noodles.  While okay in a pinch, they were not nearly as good as our homemade.  So we'll definitely be trying our hand at them again soon.  (Chinese New Year is just around the corner and Cache took ingredients to make it at BYU.)

Everyone in the family LOVED this soup.  We can only improve on it!

Here is our working recipe:

Noodles:  (I will triple this for my family.)
1 1/4 cup cake flour
3 TBSP all purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 TBSP oil

We put this in the bread machine then let it sit most of the day to break down the gluten.  It was such a sticky dough that we had to add a lot of flour to even be able to work with it.


Next time I am going to try stirring this mixture together by hand and then using my bread machine to knead it as I slowly add more cake flour as needed until it is a good working consistency.  After that cycle is finished I will see how stretchy it is.  If it needs more kneading, I will use my bread machine again on the knead cycle.  If this doesn't work, I can always roll them out and cut long and thin!

Soup:
Cut tenderloin steak into bite-sized pieces, removing all fat.  Cook in cold water and cook slowly until cooked through.  Drain and rinse well.

In soup pan, saute in 1-2 TBSP hot oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 TBSP sliced ginger

Cook until fragrant.  Add 6 dried chili pepper (with tops broken off).  Add:

Cooked beef
1 1/2 TBSP chili paste
scant 1/3 cup soy sauce
1 cup beef broth
5 cups water
1 tsp. sugar

Simmer for 1 hour.  Ladle over a bowl of noodles.

We all wanted a few vegetables in it.  Next time, I'll add some carrots, broccoli, and green onions near the end of the cooking time.

This soup had a lot of heat!  But we all loved it.  We just added a little extra water to the girls' bowls.  Can't wait to try it again!

Chicken Noodle Soup

An email to Cache as to how to make my chicken noodle soup.  (About 3 servings)

Measure 3-4 cups water into pan, add 3-4 boullion cubes and quite a bit of pepper (5-8 shakes).  Thyme is also a nice flavor for chicken noodle if you want.  If you have some and you want, use just a sprinkle.

Add chicken (it can be frozen), chopped onion and chopped celery--with leaves.  Bring to a boil then turn down to about medium-low.  You want it to be simmering (slightly boiling).

Meanwhile make noodles.  2 eggs to 1 cup of flour, season with 3-4 shakes of salt and pepper.

Here's a video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhSS_QuIuA0  (watch both parts)

I don't use my hand.  You can decide.  But the way she cuts them will work very well since you don't have a pizza cutter.

Let them dry while your soup simmers.  

About 45 minutes before eating, remove chicken and shred.  Bring soup back to a boil and add chopped carrots and noodles.  Simmer until noodles are cooked.  

Happy cooking!

Ham Chowder

This is a recipe from my Grandma Porter. It is one of my family's favorites.

Ham Chowder

4 large carrots diced

4 stalks celery, diced

1 small onion

2 large potatoes

5 cups water

2-3 cups diced ham

2 TBSP butter

6 TBSP flour

2 1/2 cup milk (I often use half and half)

seasoning to taste

Salt and pepper veggies. Cook veggies for about 20 minutes in 5 cups of water. Add ham and butter. Blend flour into milk, blending until smooth. Stir into soup, heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils. Simmer partially covered for 10-20 minutes to develop flavor. Season to taste.

Beef and Barley Soup--Thursday

This recipe originated from the recipe here. I still change the seasoning up every time, but this is now my guideline recipe instead of the other.

Beef and Barley Soup

1 Soup Bone or beef shank--I think they are the same thing?

8 beef bouillon cubes (I usually add a little more)

8 cups of water

1 tsp salt

2 TBSP ketchup (exactly)

1 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp thyme leaves

1/2 tsp pepper

Onion

Celery, with leaves (the leaves have a lot of flavor and it saves time not cutting them off)

Potatoes

Carrots

1/2 cup pearl barley

I like to cut off as much of the fat as possible off my meat so I painstakingly cut off fat and cut the meat into small pieces. However, you could just throw it in the pot and add your ingredients then remove later to shred meat if you would like. If you are a fat-cutter-offer, I recommend doing it while still mostly frozen.

Add meat, water, bouillon, seasoning, onion and celery to pan. Simmer. (I do mine most of the day.) About an hour before serving, add cut up carrots, potatoes and barley. (cut pieces small so you get lots of flavors in one spoonful)

Serve with bread or crackers. Last night we had it with this bread.

Sausage and Bean Soup--Monday Night

A few years ago when Deals to Meals was just starting out I subscribed for the free two week period. I knew it wouldn't fit my schedule to try to shop the deals they searched out for me---I really joined for the recipes using food storage items that they promised! Unfortunately most were just regular recipes but I printed them all out and filed them away. Last week I was going through them and decided on a few to try. It is actually one that maybe considered a food storage recipe.

Slow-Cook Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup

(It says it is originally from a Weight Watchers Cookbook)

12 pkg. kielbasa, cut into 1/4 " rounds

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1/2 medium bunch kale, chopped (abt. 4 cups)

3 cups chicken broth

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes

1/2 cup water

1 tsp dried basil

Place all ingredients in slow cook. Stir combine. Cover and cook on low until the vegetables are tender, 4-6 hours.

It was pretty good. If I make it again, I will add the kielbasa near the end of cooking. It seemed to lose flavor over the cooking time. I will also use a different bean than kidney---just personal preference. Tweaks I made: I added more vegetables more than called for--I like them and they made the soup go farther. I used about 6 carrots, 3 stalks of celery and 1 1/2 onion. I omitted one of the cups of chicken broth--I like less broth in soups, omitted the kale--didn't have any and forgot to add the basil. I also cut the kielbasa into small pieces (as well as the veggies); I like lots of flavors in one spoonful plus it reduces fighting over pieces of meat!

I also served fresh pineapple and French bread with this. Most left the table happy and satisfied.

FHE treat: fresh blackberry shakes (blackberries, ice cream, blend together)