turkey noodle soup

Meal: turkey noodle soup
Cooking time: about 30 minutes, not including resting time for the noodle dough
Cost for the batch (2 suppers for 2, total): about $3.60
Local ingredients: eggs
Organic ingredients: turkey, flour

Noodle soup is one of our favorite things around here; it’s quick, it’s tasty, and it’s comforting. I talked about turkey noodle soup over here a little bit, and last night’s soup was much the same, except that I made fresh egg noodles. The big thing to note about the noodles is that when she says “Slowly add water a little bit at a time until a ball of dough is formed” she means it. I have a bad habit, when I’m making something like this, of getting impatient, adding too much water at once, and then ending up with a dough that’s a wet mess. Then you have to add more flour and mutter to yourself, and eventually it turns out all right, but not as nicely as it would have if you’d just been patient in the first place. So, please - be patient, add the water a little at a time, and your noodles will thank you for it.

It’s most convenient to make noodle soup if you already have meat cooked up and leftover from something else; failing that, boil chicken or turkey until it’s cooked, or pan fry it with a little oil, or put it on your George Foreman, if you have one - how you cook the meat for this doesn’t really matter. In a real pinch, canned turkey or chicken works. (We once made an unexpectedly amazing chicken soup using canned chicken, but that’s a story for another day.) This would be best with homemade stock, but I’ve been cheating and using powdered vegeterian “chicken” broth from our local co-op until I get around to turning the turkey and chicken bits in the freezer into stock. You can season your broth/stock anyway you want. We kept things simple with some salt, pepper, and onion powder.

So, make your noodles, roll them out, and cut them up - a pizza cutter works great for this. Let them dry for a few minutes. Meanwhile, get your stock or broth heating and add the cooked meat. Let it boil together for a couple minutes, then added your noodles, cooking them until they float to the top (you can always fish one out and taste it), which will take four or five minutes. We served this soup up with our leftover homemade hamburger buns from last night - they have a very firm crust, more of a roll than bun, and are perfect for tearing to pieces and dipping into broth, one of Jeff’s favorite food things.