Chicken Noodle Soup…Without the Soup
This week, I decided to do a little “deconstructed” cooking. It’s all the rage (apparently) to take a normal dish—like chicken noodle soup—and make it into something else. I actually wasn’t quite sure what I was doing, to be honest with you. I just kind of threw random ingredients into a pan as I went, so there’s no real recipe, just an ingredients list. As long as this isn’t your first time cooking, you should be able to figure out how to make the dish without over-seasoning (or committing some other, equally heinous, culinary crime). Emily got a new camera recently and loves playing with it, so we figured we’d include lots of pictures to help you out ;)
I made this dish for one, so keep that in mind as you’re throwing this together.
You will need:
- a chicken breast
- veggies of your choice (I used carrots, onion and red pepper…but celery and potatoes would be great in this too!)
- chicken stock or broth (sold in cartons or cans, in the soup aisle)
- orzo or some other small pasta (Kroger has some great tiny pastas…they even have star-shaped ones. It has to be tiny or the recipe won’t turn out right.)
- butter
- paprika
- garlic powder
- salt and pepper
Start by filling a small saucepan about half-full with chicken stock. Turn the heat on high and bring it up to a boil. While you’re waiting for the stock to boil, chop up your veggies and add them to the saucepan.
Let the stock boil for a couple minutes with just the veggies, then add as much orzo as you think you can eat. I estimate that I only used ½ to ¾ of a cup. Add a small chunk of butter to the saucepan as well.
In the meantime, cut the chicken up into small, bite-sized pieces and dredge in flour.
Add the chicken to a small pan (don’t grease the pan at all!) and set the heat to medium-high. Sprinkle a dash of salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder on the chicken as it’s cooking.
When the orzo is al dente (it should be just slightly chewy), grab a colander and hold it over the pan with the chicken. Carefully strain the starchy chicken broth into the pan. This will act as kind of like a gravy, and will help the chicken cook faster.
Cover the chicken pan. The chicken will be done in about one to two minutes, and will be incredibly juicy because it will soak up all that extra chicken stock. Return the strained orzo and veggies to the saucepan, remove from heat, and cover. When the chicken is done, add it to the orzo and veggies. Stir everything together and dig in!
Tags: chicken noodle, College Kitchen, Emma Frankart, soup