Classic Chicken Noodle

It is hard sometimes to keep things simple. A delicious chicken noodle soup presents such a challenge. However, for a soup like this, the most important thing is to pay respect to the few ingredients and coax the most flavor out of them. 

This time, we did allow ourselves two slight variations to this classic. In honor of Blake's soup that landed him in the finals of this year's Chopp-ED competition, we used a smaller ditalini pasta (which fits on the spoon so nicely) in place of a traditional egg noodle. I think this is a nice change, perhaps even a better choice??? The second was the addition of some fresh herbs from my deck boxes at home. Each year I fill up two boxes, one with fine herbs (tarragon, chives, parsley, chervil) and one with more woody herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano). I personally adhere to the notion that the proper use of fresh herbs is one of the most important little seasoning differences between restaurant food and home cooking. Though they have their place, dried herbs do not come close to delivering the roundness of flavor that fresh herbs can. In addition, I thought that the soup would benefit from the subtle touch of a little rosemary, thyme, and oregano. In the top left photo, you can see Caleb chopping them up.

Southwest Chicken and Rice

Cream of Mushroom

The act of cooking requires the use of heat to transform raw ingredients into something better.... more delicious, easier to digest, and a blending of flavors that only heat can assist. Part of the art of cooking is managing the heat properly, using every single one of your senses. Sight, sound, smell, touch, and of course taste. Each one gives immediate insight into the transformation that is taking place before your eyes as you cook. 

Cooking mushrooms properly requires a great deal more attention, in my opinion, than other preparations as the way you manage the heat has an extraordinary effect on the final dish. Mushrooms are like little wet sponges. Handle them wrong and you are only going to squeeze all of their water out. 

I feel that mushrooms for the most part like the following things.

1. High heat at first, use enough oil but not too much. Don't burn them but you will know immediately if your pan is not hot enough.

2. A slope sided pan. Pans that have a 90 degree vertical side (like a rondeau) trap the moisture in and bring down the heat in the pan. 

3. Garlic or Shallots. Always in my opinion.

4. Butter. Don't add it at the beginning or risk burning. Towards the middle/end is when you should add a little pat. Or, in the case of this soup, if you are using cream it might not be necessary.

5. Salt. Mushrooms will eat up salt so you should taste, taste, taste. The final product shouldn't taste salty, just delicious. Use Kosher Salt.

6. Chopped Parsley. Really, parsley is a bit overused in general, however, mushrooms pair perfectly with the easy to approach herbiness that parsley provides. Also, parsley is known to be a restorative breath freshener and with the anticipated garlic, you might need it.

My favorite wild mushrooms are in order....

I wouldn't use these in soups but still... maybe I would....

My advice... don't look to buy them(they are hard to find (sometimes Sandy's in Westerly carries them) however I remember when I was on vacation in Switzerland they did have fresh chanterelles in a local food grocery store. I bought them and fried them up with some spaetzle, yummy!) If you are going out to eat and you see that they are featured in a dish, try it... you just might like it.

1. Morels

Little weirdos. But wow, when you try them you will understand.

2. Yellow Chanterelles 

It is a beautiful indescribable flavor. They instantly make everything better. 

3. Porcini

This is about the meatiest product that is not meat. You can grill a thick porcini and eat it like a steak. 

Broccoli and Cheddar

When you do an internet search for Broccoli and Cheddar soup the first few hits are typically variations on the Panera Bread Broccoli and Cheddar. The students often know about this soup when asked and many often profess a love for it. Funny right..... Broccoli??? Who would have guessed. It is a creamy, rich, a delicious wonder and our version combines elements from "copycat" recipes with traditional French technique.

I think that this soup (along with New England absolute staples Clam Chowder and Lobster Bisque) is perfectly suited for the somewhat dated and potentially clunky "bread bowl" treatment that you can get at Panera. I love the idea in principle... I mean bread and soup, specifically a creamy or pureed soup is such a treat that to combine the two is a bit of a dream. We usually serve some of our famous soft rolls when selling quarts to go but a crusty loaf is a lot more up my alley.

I have worked in restaurants where the bread bowl was an option. It is a lot of food when you think about it, even a small boule is a lot of bread and quite filling. I think it was around 2005 when the low-carb craze (Atkins et al.) took off and bread bowls began to lose their stature as a fun item to order. In fact, for awhile, many restaurants stopped giving the bread basket on the table after the customer ordered the food because so much bread went uneaten and wasted. The trend continues but the amount of consumption has normalized, thank goodness. I mean really, bread is the staff of life and amazing and eating good bread is a great joy in life (see the section on our breads!!)

Around this area there is a singular "gram-worthy" bread bowl to mention. Ford's Lobster (just down the road from the school) has the lobster bomb... and at $44 it is a rite of passage for lobster lovers.

Lentil with Ham

Corn Chowder with Bacon

This was a very popular soup, perhaps our best seller so far. Of course, the best corn chowder is going to be made with corn that is picked that very day, the sweetness just popping off the cob. When using corn that is extremely fresh, it is always a great idea to scrape the sides of the cob after removing the kernels. This extracts the maximum amount of flavor from the corn and the starchiness helps to thicken up the soup. 

Though the recipe below is pretty standard, I encourage you to experiment a bit with the flavor you are looking for. I think one variation that I would love would be to add a bit of heat... (always!), perhaps a sprinkle of feta, some cilantro and maybe a little dollup of sour cream. This would be in the style of Mexican street corn a personal favorite of mine. Years back I went to dinner at Olio in Groton and they were offering it as a special appetizer. They did a fantastic job of it, and I have had other, more authentic variations since then, but that first taste certainly measured up to any others. It might be worth a try if you are feeling adventurous!

Beef Barley

This is a rich and tender soup... much more brothy than a stew, but just as satisfying to eat. The beef is slowly cooked and melts in your mouth from the gentle cooking. The starchiness from the barley is a nice pairing, taking on the flavor of the broth. 

My favorite cut of beef when I am in the mood for a steak is a NY strip. Some prefer a ribeye, others tenderloin, but I enjoy the slight bite and full flavor of a strip steak. However, for a soup like this that is cooked slowly over a couple of hours I prefer chuck. This comes from the shoulder region. There are other good choices as well, but I find that this cut has a great flavor and the tough meat becomes so incredibly fork tender when cooked right it just melts in your mouth. 

Tomato Bisque

Tomato Bisque is one of the great dunking soups. It doesn't have to be a traditional grilled cheese sandwich that many of us loved as kids. Just as good is the focaccia bread that we included during this weeks sale. 

Though this is a relatively simple soup to prepare it still takes time to achieve great results. To get a real depth of flavor that cheaper tomato soups only hope to achieve you must take the time to slowly sweat your onions over time. Michael Rhulman, in his book "20 Techniques" really goes into detail about the way the flavor of an onion changes during each interval of time that it cooks. It is incredibly important to be patient, something that is as difficult to learn as any advanced cooking technique. Additionally, it is important to add some Parmesan, or even a rind (this is preferable). The extra umami of the cheese helps to separate this soup from something ordinary to extraordinary.

Spicy Pork and Vegetable with Black Beans

"Compliments to the Chef and the staff!  Had it last night and my only complaint was I ran out of rolls to mop up the bottom of the soup bowl, ended up licking it clean it was that good.  Please pass on to your students that I'm in line with money for the next one! "

Customer comment

Cream of Turkey and Vegetable

It is still a little cold (First week of March 2021), and sometimes you just need a little comforting, rich, delicious veloute based soup to warm you up. The freshmen (Class of 2024) have been working hard on their knife cuts and we thought it would be a great idea to use all of their diced carrots, celery, and onions in a comforting soup to offer up to the staff. We hope you loved it!

Onion Soup

My first year teaching, I was at Platt Tech in Milford (spent only that one year there) and I had the opportunity to spend a day in the kitchen at Norwich Tech to observe their program. Chef Longo was in charge of the production kitchen and I was able to spend some time asking questions and observing their program. I vividly remember him making a point to say that he thought every student should be able to make onion soup. He didn't elaborate but the more I thought about it, I realized the vast amount of nuanced skill that has to be applied to make an onion soup. It is a relatively simple preparation, yet it relies heavily on proper technique. First, the onions must be cut to a proper julienne thickness, 1/8 in, and a uniform consistency. The onions must be cooked with care and never rushed. You can easily brown an onion, but to truly develop the proper flavor the onions need to be cooked for a looooong time. Then the soup must be simmered gently to allow the flavors to marry. 

Yes, another French dish I love but really, how can you resist a well caramelized topping of swiss, emmental, or gruyere cheese atop crisp crostini all hiding a rich broth redolent with onions. DPI has a good onion, but this soup is such a staple that in many restaurants you can still find them serving a crock in the traditional way.

Pictured above are crostini being prepared for the onion soup. Another simple preparation but incredibly useful. 

1. I always use baguette. I find that it has the proper initial texture to hold up to the desired crispiness.

2. Crostini must be thought of differently than simple toasted bread (like you would use for hors d'oeuvres). Crostini must be much thinner and they should be cooked crisp. If they are too thick or undercooked they can be too chewy or taste stale. However when slicing bread for hors d'oeuvres such a crisp toast can shatter and be messy, a big problem when serving at a fancy party.

3. I personally like to season them aggressively with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I used to serve them topped with a blue cheese spread alongside a typical house salad. It was a form of crouton. In that case the shattering crispiness wasn't a problem as it benefitted the texture of the salad itself.