French Onion Soup

Any of you guys have recipes for French Onion Soup that you would swear by? I'm lookin to do some cookin!

Ben's going to say "put an egg in it"

So we tried to make some Soup. you know, The Soup. well, maybe.

Matt and I watched "Ramen Girl" (you know, that brittany murphy movie about how she's a rich little girl who doesnt know what to do with her life so she moves to japan with her boyfriend who really doesnt like her all that much so he moves to china somewhere and she gets really bored and finds a ramen house and decides she wants to make ramen so she endures the brusque japanese personality of the ramen house owner and she doesnt speak any japanese but in the end she moves to america and makes soup. you know, THAT movie) and we got inspired.

so we took some ramens and threw out the flavor packets and boiled em up in some water. also, we took some dried mushrooms and reconstituted them in about 4 cups water on the stove and while they were cooking threw in some frozen green beans and carrots and shrimpies to cook (pulled 'em out when they were done and put to the side), and microwaved some spinaches. to the broth i also added about a tbsp of soy sauce, at big tbsp of miso, a tsp of balsamic vinegar, a big shake of garlic powder, and just for kicks, some brown sugar.

we assembled the whole thing and started to chow down and guess what. guess frickin what. it was bland as all get out. omg so bland. i put in so many things! the broth tasted AMAZING until we put the noodles in. matt resorted to adding some of the flavor packet but it just didnt seem to help. now we know what brittany had to go through and why the old japanese man threw out her broth time and time again.

poop. at least it looked pretty. and the shrimps were DELICIOUS.

any suggestions? especially you Soup connoisseurs?

Noodle soup with delicious toppings

Still living at home. My mom and I collaborated on a noodle-soup-with-toppings dish, similar in spirit to a ramen or udon composition, which is Ben's and my favorite food format. Beware of having something like this out at a restaurant, where you may encounter a wussy broth and a dearth of toppings. What you are looking for is a very hearty broth with something other than cabbage or broccoli floating around with the noodles.

Here, we have a gingery clear broth made with ginger, carrots, and scallions. We steamed some baby bok choy, quartered or eighthed, and I used the shiitake poaching technique featured in the nabeyaki udon installment in cooking with dog.

Shrimp dumplings were made by food-processing some raw shrimps with herbs and a little corn starch. Dumpling balls were formed and dropped into boiling broth. As the dumplings finished cooking, I dropped some already softened rice noodles in there. Soup then ladeled out and and topped.

THE SOUP

Anyone who knows Meredith and me know our obsession with THE SOUP. The story goes back years. Ever since we both started coming to Rutgers, we've always had dinners together to celebrate stuff. Anything we can find we celebrate. The first was the fact that we were both there. We chose to go to Noodle Gourmet. Excellent place. I think most of my greatest college take-out memories are tied to Noodle Gourmet. Eat there. The first time we went I got a giant noodle soup. I'm not sure if any of you have ever had their noodle soup but that fucker is cheap and giant.

After that we spent a few years with Edo as our hangout before we eventually started celebrating at Saporo. That was a big leap for us and also the first encounter with THE SOUP. I can't remember what we were celebrating but we were there and decided to get the Nabeyaki Udon and some rolls. We could absolutely not finish that soup. Its not quite as big as the Noodle Gourmet soup and nowhere near as cheap, but the taste is infinitely better. Its like comparing a Kia and a Porshe. We've been hooked ever since. Any time we can we go sit and wait for that glorious pot to get set down between us where we delicately divy up the treasures burried within and setting atop those wonderful noodles and that flavorful broth.

Years later when I finally balled up the plate, this was the goal. Ever since we've been attempting to find others like it through our own cooking and through little eateries in the area. It's been a staple of my dutch oven cooking and my almost daily breakfast/dinner. Something about soup with an egg cracked into it is just the perfect breakfast/dinner combo I need to complete my day with the sunrise. Meredith has been getting on me forever to finally post one so last night with my extra time off work i finally decided to do so.

This was a quick one. I used a granulated bonito for the dashi with a little extra soy sauce and sesame oil. Once that was going I threw in two frozen dumplings and the miso. From there I added udon, seaweed, chicken, and dumped in a raw egg to poach in the soup. Thats always been my favorite part. Just before it was ready i threw in some kimchi. I've had it sitting around and I don't have many ideas so it went in. Just enough to sweat some of the flavor into the broth. I gotta tell you, its wonderful.

This kimchi will haunt me till the day I die. Or that day I move out and decide to not take it with me.

A fast soup

Swiss chard, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, and bean threads in a red curry coconut broth, garnished with lime and dark tamari. Brown the tofu in some sesame oil first and use dried mushrooms so that you can add a little of the rehydrating broth to the coconut milk mixture. Then crack an egg in the whole mess and let it poach for a little while in the soup. Sub brown rice for bean threads and sprinkle on some chopped cilantro. Not a bad weeknight dinner.