Chicken Noodle Soup | Little Fires Everywhere

‘You slept a long time. That’s good. Do you think you can eat something?’ In the kitchen, Mia set a bowl of soup in front of her, and Lexie brought a spoonful to her lips: chicken noodle, salty, searingly hot. There was no sign of Peal, but the clock on the stove read 3:15. School had let out a little while ago. She must have told her mother everything, Lexie thought.
Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng

The concept of comfort food is fascinating, usually something high in carbs, sugar or salt. It can be eaten when all seems hopeless and the thought of that delicious, carby meal at the end of your day is all that will keep you going.

Or, it can a meal that brings about a nostalgic emotion, a sentimental feeling attached to a type of food that brings about memories of childhood and feeling safe. In Little Fires Everywhere

It’s interesting growing up in Australia - your main media exposure as a child is to movies and television shows that are American. You grow up seeing all these comfort foods in shows that you’ve never heard of real. Foods like tomato soup with grilled cheese or chicken noodle soup.

In Little Fires Everywhere chicken noodle soup is the dish that Mia serves to Lexie during a day that is particularly bad. The description of the soup: salty, searingly hot, is the perfect fix to her day. It doesn’t solve anything - but it helps. I recommend this soup whenever you need a meal that's a little more grounding and will let you disappear from any problems for a few hours at least. 

Note: I used a soy based faux chicken I found at my local asian grocer - if you’re using real chicken, make sure you add another step of checking the chicken is cooked through at the end just to be safe.

Chicken Noodle Soup
Makes approx. 6 serves.
Ingredients
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 brown onion, diced finely
3 gloves garlic, minced
100g dried noodles/pasta
5 cups chicken stock
200g faux chicken, diced into large chunks *see note
1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh pepper

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan and add in the onion, cooking until soft, around 3 - 4 minutes.

2. Add in the carrot, celery and garlic, cooking for another 5 minutes or so until they start to soften also. Remember to keep them moving during this time so they don’t stick and burn.

3. Add in the chicken stock, cover and bring to the boil. Leave to boil for around 10 minutes before adding in the diced chicken and dried noodles or pasta.

4. Leave on stove for another 10 minutes or until noodles have softened.

5. Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Leek and Potato Stew | Coraline

Coraline was disgusted. 'Daddy,' she said, 'you've made a recipe again.' 'It's a leek and potato stew with a tarragon garnish and melted Gruyere cheese,' he admitted.
Coraline
Neil Gaiman

I don’t know how many times I’ve mentioned that I dislike summer but here’s another one; I dislike summer. I am not built for Australian summer’s, we’re currently on a 30+ heatwave in Melbourne this week and one day in and I’ve had enough. Also, hot weather means I can’t justify making soups and stews like this one - except I did because it’s delicious and I don’t care.

This particular stew was taken from the pages of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, a delightfully dark children’s book. Throughout Coraline laments the home made food that her father makes, stating with disgust that he’s made another recipe. As an adult I feel that most of the recipes mentioned throughout sound delicious, hand stretched pizza’s anyone? But memories of turning my nose up in disgust at the mere touch of ginger in any dish, or the weird texture of fish when I was younger definitely brings about a sense of relation to Coraline’s prospective.

This stew however is simply a bowl of deliciousness and comfort. You can add more stock and blend it up into a soup if you prefer, but personally, there’s some sort of cosy appeal to hugging a bowl of stew close while watching a movie or reading a book at night. Also! While I am aware that it is rosemary in the photo, not tarragon, however I forgot to buy tarragon but had rosemary growing in the garden - so, laziness prevailed. 

Note: I did not leave myself enough time to find a vegan gruyere cheese for this so I just used a vegan cheddar I had in the fridge. Still delicious!

Leek and Potato Stew with Tarragon and melted Gruyere Cheese
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
5-6 red potatoes, diced
2 leeks
4-5 cups of vegetable stock
2 tbsp tarragon, roughy chopped
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup gruyere cheese grated or crumbled *see note
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

1. Slice the white part of the leek finely and then dice up (if you’d prefer not to discard the green parts you can save them and use them in a homemade veggie stock later).

2. Place the butter - it is a lot of butter but honestly the more you use the better it will taste - into a large saucepan on a medium heat until it is melted and bubbly. Add in the leek and cook for around 2-3 minutes while stirring to ensure they don’t stick and burn.

3. Add in the tarragon and diced potatoes and mix to coat with butter before adding in stock (reserve about a cup for later).

4. Leave on a medium heat for around thirty minutes so it’s bubbling just a little(it could take a little less time depending on how small you dice your potatoes). During this time you may want to add in the remaining cup of stock if the stew is reducing too much.

5. At this stage the potato should be well cooked and slightly mushy, I mixed my cheese through so it would melt in throughout the whole thing but simply melting it on top would also be super yum. Enjoy!