Last week I would not have been able to answer the question, “In the Greek alphabet, what comes after epsilon?” I do not feel any wiser now that I know the answer.
Zeta was the sort of storm that reminds you where you live. As I write it doesn’t appear it was all that bad here, but power is out for a lot of people and the neutral ground on Napoleon is packed with cars. It looked for a minute like it might be problematic, is all.
I think I was reasonable in wanting to cook the entire contents of my freezer, refrigerator and pantry. Manager on shift felt that was unwise, so I ended up cooking things in my refrigerator that were just starting to complain about the conditions.
For me that was a couple of chicken thighs, a head of baby bok choy, some chicken stock, some greens and three button mushrooms.
I made chicken soup with vegetables and ramen noodles. I will do my best to provide a recipe, but it was impromptu and I suspect most of you can make chicken soup without detailed instructions.
I started with about a quart of chicken stock, to which I added about a quarter cup of rice wine, a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, another quart of water and a little salt. Once I had that simmering, I added a thumb-sized piece of ginger, a garlic clove and a stalk of lemongrass, all of which I smashed more than chopped.
When the broth came back to a simmer, I added the partially-frozen chicken and a half an onion and let it cook for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile I pre-heated the oven to 375.
I took the chicken out and put it on a sheet pan, skin side up, and drizzled it with some soy sauce, sesame oil and mirin. That went into the oven for about 5 minutes, during which time I strained the broth into another pot and added the sliced mushrooms, chopped bok choy and greens along with a half an onion and a hot, red chile pepper, both finely sliced.
I can find bulk, plain, ramen-style noodles at a couple of markets here, and I like them very much. The ramen could cook in the broth, but then the soup gets a little cloudy so I simmer them for 4-5 minutes before adding them to the stock.
To serve I added noodles to a bowl and topped them with the meat I’d sliced off the chicken thighs, a little green onion, some cilantro and the vegetables and broth. I think I added a little salt to mine and I know I added some chili crisp, and overall I was happy with how it turned out.
I hope that your day turned out as well as mine, whether you were facing a hurricane or some other mundane catastrophe, and if you cooked your way through it, please let me know.
