By giving root vegetables, frozen corn, and pantry items a starring role, Miso Noodle Soup could be made ten days before the end of the world. The addition of eggs and leftover chicken turned it into a meal. I used homemade chicken stock, but box broth would do in a pinch.
I think I saw a version of this on a NYTimes site this weekend, but I can’t track it down.
Miso Noodle Soup with Carrots & Corn
1 onion, halved and sliced in half moons
1 carrot, diced
1 1/2 c frozen corn
1 clove garlic
2 servings of Japanese noodles (I used somen)
Potful of chicken stock / 2 cups chopped chicken (optional)
Generous 1/4 c miso
* * *
Sauté onions. Add corn and carrots and soften a little. Drop garlic in center and cook for about 90 seconds.
Add broth. Cook until carrots done, about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, cook noodles in a separate pot. Fill bowls with chopped chicken and noodles.
Also, hard boil two eggs, peel and cut in half.
Mash miso in separate bowl with about a cup of the hot broth. Pour back into pot and cook gently for a few minutes.
Pour over noodles and chicken. Top with eggs. Add salt to taste.
Yum!
If I’d had scallions, I would have added them — both for color and spice.
As it turns out, I would have rather had more corn and no chicken, but I had a carcass to strip from making the stock, so it made sense to use it.
Definitely a meal I would make again, maybe experimenting with additions like ginger, cilantro, and jalapeños.
In other news, those who suggested that grass was a misguided idea with a dog and shade were right (Mo!). K’s sod was beautiful for a season, adequate for another, and destroyed now. I’m extending the beds by a couple of feet and dreaming of gravel walkways.
Isn’t that what quarantines are for? Digging up your backyard?
Looks like a yummy soup!
I am digging up our back yard too. Moving all the plants from the side fences out into the nasty grass that was destroyed by the previous owner’s dog. Best therapy. Sorry about K’s sod project going to dust. I’ve never been into maintaining grass… particularly hate mowing. I have noticed though, there are a lot of people who LOVE to mow and obsess about their grass.
I don’t have much interest in lawns either except as a frame for shrubs and flowers. I really think men are more attached to their lawns than women. At least, that’s how it breaks down in this household. Glad to hear that you’re gardening too. It truly is a soul-tonic.
I remember when you put the sod in. It was so hopeful. Backaches for everyone I think?
The grass was K’s baby. And it was many many hours of work.
and so it goes
Yup. The yard could handle shade or the dog but not both.
have you tried hardy groundcovers that cope with shade? here in Australia I use viola hederaceae (Australian native violet), Ajuga, Dichondra and Mondo Grass but have no idea what would work in a cold climate
I’ll look those up. Violets spread like weeds here and there’s ajuga in abundance. Also liriope seems nearly indestructible. Thanks for lending your expertise, Mo.
My reply vanished? Thanks for lending your expertise Mo. We have ajuga and liriope. Will look up those others.
We had a dog and grass. I don’t know what one has to do with the other? Sod is never a good idea. This from someone who worked for 10 years at a place that sold sod (repeatedly). Daughter (at work) is raking gravel out of a lawn today (snow plow) and the perennial beds. Using very bad language.
I might try the miso soup as I have red miso in the fridge and rice noodles. I think I have a can of corn in the pantry and for greens I can use the greens sprouting from onions I have sitting in bowls with water for their roots. I’ll skip the egg.
As I said below it’s the combination of vigorous games of fetch where athletic Finn spins and turns to catch the ball PLUS shade. I don’t think it’s his output, tho my neighbor has her yard crew add some enzyme or other to counteract dog pee. We tried seeding it and it didn’t work. I worry about gravel getting everywhere, but blue stone (say) is massively expensive and mulch would track inside. Has daughter worked with decomposed granite? That’s what my brother recommends.
decomposed granite can get muddy in wet weather, have tried it in a few gardens over the years but the customers have not been happy with tracking red dust into their houses, generally prefer using mulch for pathways with stepping stones and hardy groundcovers
Good to know. Also we’d have to buy our very own loathsome leaf blower because — raking?! I had no idea about mud and dust. A path surrounded by hardy ground covers is seeming better and better. Pachysandra hasn’t done all that well here, but ajuga reptans has and one other viney thing I don’t know the name of (not vinca, something else)
As I sit here, the delicious aroma of Navy Bean soup is wafting through our house. I am the most fortunate of women because my husband is the chef. He is a great cook and has decided that he would like the kitchen for the next few days. He is using ham hocks and lots of spices, our oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme are all thriving and I saw him doing some harvesting this morning. He uses herbs with wild abandon and his soups are scrumptious beyond belief. As if that were not enough, he has a loaf of whole what sourdough in the oven as well. Later in the week, he is going to make his fire breathing Chili from Hell so we will have lots of good leftovers and if I have any voice or throat left after eating his chili, I will be in great shape!
Re grass and sod: here because water is at a premium in the desert, our development has gravel for most of the front and back yards and it is butt ass ugly but Rich is happy not have to mow grass, something he had to do until we moved here. It was probably the hardest thing for me to get used to when we moved here because I miss being able to put toes on grass.
Oh I can almost smell those delicious aromas too! I am singularly uninspired tonight. So it is pasta with parsley, grilled sausage, and cheese. It’ll be tasty enough.
Really bugs me when I make a typo…Rich made whole wheat sourdough bread not whole what but on the other hand, he does sometimes put nuts and other grains in his bread so maybe “what” fits!
Soup was so good last night that I had it for breakfast, perfect on this very blustery day here in New Mexico. We are under a fire watch due to the winds…
One of my most favorite authors, Mark Helprin, describes weather and wind in ways that I so, so admire. It’s hard to convey why here (I’m thinking especially of “In Sunlight and In Shadow”), but reading about your winds in New Mexico, feeling a sharp bluster here in New England today, I wonder how he would describe the big atmospheric conditions that connect us. I am comforted this morning by the thought of that. Being connected by wind.
As for typos —GAA. I’m surprised anyone texts with me anymore given how rife with typos and bizarre autocorrects they are. But here, you never need to apologize. It’s part of our modern condition.
Ah, dog playing fetch. Never had one of those but yes that would ruin a lawn. We tossed a ball and Riley watched us.
No the house where she was working had a gravel driveway and a snow plow guy who distributed gravel into everything and owner expected her to “ get it all” back into the driveway. She has a very colorful vocabulary.
You and Mo have me rethinking gravel. Very near to rejecting.
If I had a yard and a dog. I’d make a meadow and keep the dog out for a year. Just goes to show ya’ – what? The difference between having and not having?
We rely on the ease of letting Finn out to do his business in the fenced backyard so, yeah, there’s no way I’m gonna leash him up and take him out front every time he needs to go. But what a wonderful idea — tall grasses and wildflowers!
I was a lover of mossy yards back in our Virginia days (I would “weed” the grass out to make room for moss) … but no dog, which I suspect would have been a game changer
We have a lot of volunteer mosses. Particular near the foundation for some reason. They are beautiful and even more so for coming on their own. But no, they would not withstand the comings and goings of Finn.