Fall
Crab Asparagus Noodle Soup
- Serves 6-8
Author Notes
This soup is inspired by a soup my dad used to make from an ancient Chinese cookbook. I always loved the crab and asparagus combination - so elegant - but the soup always seemed more like a starter rather than a meal. And most of the time, if I go to the effort of making stock and soup, I want it to be a main course. So I decided to create my own stock with some Asian flavors infused and serve the soup with Chinese noodles (read: ramen). The stock is important - but if you want to make the soup with boxed or caned stock, just simmer it with star anise, ginger, and the herbs for 30 mins or so, strain them then add the rest of the ingredients. When I make the stock, I used a whole chicken plus the backs/parts of two others. After about 45 minutes, you can pull out the whole chicken, cut off the breasts, then throw back the rest of the carcass into the stock. The breasts will be nicely poached and ready for another use. I used it to make fiveandspice's spicy chicken salad, which is delicious. Enjoy! —meganvt01
Ingredients
- Not your average chicken stock
-
1
whole chicken
-
2 other chicken carcasses or assorted chicken parts you have in your freezer
-
1
yellow onion, quartered
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1 tablespoon
whole black peppercorns
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2
pods star anise
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1
2 inch segment of ginger, crushed with the back of your knife
-
1
sprig rosemary
-
1
sprig thyme
-
2
cloves garlic, unpeeled
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2
small bay leaves
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1 tablespoon
kosher salt
- Crab Asparagus Noodle Soup
-
1 pound
crab, picked over (I used blue crab)
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1 pound
asparagus, woody ends removed, cut into 1 inch segments
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2
scallions, chopped
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1
clove garlic, minced
-
1
large shallot, sliced
-
2 tablespoons
soy sauce
-
2 teaspoons
yellow miso
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2 tablespoons
sherry
-
1
package ramen noodles
-
1 tablespoon
toasted sesame oil
-
8 cups
not your average chicken stock (or boxed following the directions in the headnote)
-
3 tablespoons
chives, minced
-
Sriracha, for serving
Directions
- Not your average chicken stock
- Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot -cover with water. Bring to a boil and lower to a mere simmer.
- After an hour pull out the whole chicken and remove the breasts - reserve for another use. Put the remainder of the carcass back into the pot. Simmer for another 3 hours.
- Strain the solids from the stock. Let it cool and strain the fat and impurities from the surface.
- This will make more than you need for the soup - reserve the rest by freezing or refrigerating promptly.
- Crab Asparagus Noodle Soup
- Parboil the asparagus in salted water for 3 minutes. Drain and cool in cold water. Drain and reserve.
- Parboil the ramen noodles according to the package direction. Mine was 3 minutes of boiling. Drain and drizzle with a bit of unflavored oil to prevent sticking
- In a large pot, simmer the stock with miso, soy, and sherry.
- In another large pot, heat the sesame oil over medium high. Add the shallots and cook until soft - 5 minutes. Add the scallions and garlic and cook for one minute. Add the crab and asparagus and cook for one minute.
- Add the simmering stock to the pot with crab mixture. At this point, you can add the ramen noodles to the pot, season and serve OR you can place the ramen noodles in a bowl and pour the soup over top. This will give you a bit more control over your portions - but either way works.
- Sprinkle chives over top. Serve with sriracha on the side for a nice bit of heat.
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