HI MOM!

The next few posts I’m actually all writing one after the other, on a car ride back from a really cool concert in Manhattan…

Best Coast, a band I *adore* and Wavves, who were awesome too, played at Terminal5 in NYC

But I’ll stagger posting them so it seems like we’re really good about updating (note to readers: we’re not.)

But when we are, we’re good. And this post here, this impromptu $5 ramen for 2+ people, is also pretty good. This ramen is mostly leftover ingredients, from this dish, which was also mostly leftovers. So starting with the Pesto Pizza then Pesto Baked Chicken and Cavatappi we end up with leftover chicken, mushrooms, and spinach, adding other things found in the cabinet, to make this delicious faux ramen.

Why faux? Because real ramen is made with a variety of ingredients that I don’t have that are a little tough to find (i.e. marin, a white-wine-ish Japanese alcohol) and most importantly is usually made from a very fatty pork broth. Well, I had leftover chicken stock from making chicken salad last week –

Anyway. I can’t help make a stock when I have leftover chicken bones, and it was just getting to that week time-point where the chicken broth was still very chicken-y and rich, but hadn’t yet turned. And out here on the island it’s been pretty windy and biting, so the idea of something warm really inspired me. So I texted my roommate M, who I’ve been cooking with a lot lately, and ramen it was!

So like I said, from the night before I already had cooked chicken, spinach, and mushrooms. From chicken salad night I had chicken stock. From some other recipe with M we had sesame oil. Then between the two of us we stirred up some ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, and soy sauce. The noodles were simple Top Ramen packs cooked sans flavor packet.

The only things I had to buy was white miso paste and a jalepeno, totaling $5 for Ramen-for-two-or-more!

I also got to use my new favorite cookbook that M got from the library, The Food Lab, to make the perfect soft boiled egg on top. And let me tell you, when you break that egg into the broth (and the broth was already great cause I make a great stock to boot), it made this beautiful, rich, flavorful, almost-creamy-but-still-light broth.

My one regret with this recipe: the sliced jalepenos. They were raw, we just sprinkled on top, as that’s what some rudimentary internet research led me to do. But they made things SPICY. Holy crow.

M set this photo up all nice by taking out my spoon and the Sriracha hanging out behind the bowl… A friend from college bought me these chopsticks from China – I have really great friends!!

Mel’s Faux Leftover Ramen

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 thumb ginger, minced
• ~3 cups chicken stock
• 2 chicken breasts sliced
• 2 packets instant ramen noodles (throw out the packets!) 
• 1 cup diced mushrooms 
• spinach to taste
• scallions, sliced 
• 1 jalapeño, sliced thin
• soy sauce 
• sesame oil 
• Sriracha
• white miso paste 

Heat 1 tbsp sesame oil in large saucepan. Cook ginger and garlic till they smell wonderful. Add soy sauce (~2 tsp), salt, pepper. Let cook another minute. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil. Add mushrooms, cooking for 10 minutes or so. Add spinach and cover with lid.
While that’s all happening start to boil water for eggs/ramen. Just before it’s a rolling boil, place eggs in for EXACTLY 5 minutes. Move to ice bath with slotted spoon. Let them hang in there until you’re ready to peel them & serve at the end.
Using the leftover boiling water, cook ramen noodles according to package. Put in bowls. Place already cooked & sliced chicken on top.
Now remove broth from heat. Stir in 2 tbsp (or more) of miso paste. Stir in Sriracha to taste. It is important to add miso paste at the end, so that it doesn’t loose to much nutrients to heat (or so the internet has told me). Other things to add into broth, according to the internet: tahini, fish sauce, tare… The list goes on.
Now, ladle broth + vegetables over noodles + chicken. Garnish with sliced jalapeños, scallions, and sesame seeds. Place peeled soft boiled egg on top. Break egg with spoon, mix into soup, and enjoy. 

Love you mom, missing you a lot these days!!