Wonton Noodle Soup

You won't believe this, but I actually Googled "What to do with a big pot of chicken stock."

I have a kitchen full of cookbooks and I couldn't think of anything to do with this giant pot of stock other than 1) put it in jars and freeze it 2) make chicken noodle soup. I have no room in my freezer for jars of stock and I wasn't in the mood for traditional chicken noodle soup.

I stood there for a while thinking. What can I make.....tap....tap.....tap......

Then it suddenly hit me. Chinese soup. That's what I want. Wonton soup. I thought to myself that has to be the easiest soup on the planet to make, right? But I don't know how to make it. Recipe. I need a recipe. Only I would need a recipe for the easiest soup on the planet.

I have a cookbook YAN CAN COOK. So I looked up Wonton Soup and it takes like 4 ingredients. Bingo! All I needed was chicken broth, sesame oil, frozen wontons, and rice noodles. And I have all that stuff in the kitchen. PERFECT!

It tasted great the first night. It was hot and spicy and filling with the wontons and noodles. The wonton filling gave the soup nice additional flavor as you bit into the wonton.

Soup on day one.

But on night two Don suggested we should add some vegetables. So we stopped at the store on the way home and picked up this.

Added this for day two.

It definitely added more flavor and nutrients. Honestly, though? I kind of liked it better the first night. Maybe it's because we also added purple cabbage (not shown) which turned the soup a lovely shade of gray.

Wonton Noodle Soup
(adapted from Yan Can Cook)

Big pot of homemade Chicken Stock (or 6 cups of low-sodium canned)
Wontons (3 per person)
Rice noodles (1/2 box for four people)
Salt and pepper
1/2 - 1  t. Sesame oil
Vegetables (your choice, bok choy, carrots, green onion, mushrooms, etc.)

1. Heat chicken stock in a large pot
2. While stock is heating cook rice noodles according to package instructions. Rinse when cooked and divide among soup bowls.
3. Add sesame oil to the stock. And salt and pepper to taste.
4. Once stock is boiling, drop in wontons. They are ready when they float to the top.

Day two additions:
1. Roughly chop a handful of carrots, mushrooms and a shallot and sautee them in a large pot with a teaspoon of evoo. Once the vegetables are soft, add the stock and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes. Add the baby bok choy and a handful of chopped purple cabbage and the wontons and cook until the wontons rise to the top.

Serves six as an entree.

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