Simple, quick and always enjoyable.

This isn’t the first time I have written about Udon noodles, and it won’t be the last! My love for these thick, chewy noodles began a long time ago. Udon soup is my go to; my feel good. Now that the New Year is in full swing, and I, like many others, have decided to go meatless for awhile. I have begun to count on such old favorites as this quick and easy soup.

A good broth is needed; whether you make your own dashi broth using Kombu and bonito, or use store bought that you can enrich with some mushroom stock. I do a bit of both. With broth simmering away, noodles should be cooked and placed off to the side, then the secondary players in the soup get into the action. I like to add a handful of dried wakame, some shelled edamame, medium firm tofu and sweetened fried tofu too. Sliced shitake mushrooms, and handful of the cutesy enoki mushrooms and some seafood such as shrimp or scallops. All this goes into the stock, then the noodles go in to just heat through and you have what I like to call the perfect food.

This soup is great the next day too. Heated up, with the addition of a handful of fresh spinach, it makes a great breakfast or lunch. When in doubt, I like to get the noodles out and make a batch of my favorite rescue food.

Getting Over The Holiday Hangover

JANUARY 10th – In this class, we will cook up some delicious & nutritious “meat-less” food to get your belly back into the swing of things!

Mama Mia, Pizza-Pizza!

JANUARY 17th – Let’s make our own pizza dough, roll it out, and make some fantastic pies! Who knows, maybe we’ll even make our own mozzarella cheese too!

Soup-a-Licious

JANUARY 24th – What is better than a steaming bowl of hot soup on a cold January night? We’ll make a few soups that will stir the soul and keep you toasty warm.

Classes will start Tuesday, January 10th. All classes take place at Two If By Sea Café, 66 Ochterloney Street in downtown Dartmouth.

Individual Classes: $50
Full Series: $150

To register, send an email to: renee@feistychef.ca

Yummy soup.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….wait, that’s just a typical Sunday at my house! I don’t think I need to go into any detail as to what happened on this last Sunday; I had dragged my sorry ass into the kitchen to make us a somewhat healthy and hot meal, blah, blah, blah. The only saving grace on this particular Sunday was that we had made a trip to the Dartmouth Market the day before and had scored a few gems; tatsoi and loads of basil from my favorite Mennonite farmer, and the last of the sweet corn from Noggins. The rain had decided to pay us a visit in Halifax (hard to believe!) and the chill was setting into all of our bones. The only sustenance that I could muster up was a good ‘ol kitchen sink soup; aka, the soup of soups, the king of kings, the thing that dreams are made of.

Into my giant green Creuset pot, chopped bacon,onions and garlic started to dance and were screaming out for more friends to join them. A handful of isreali couscous, fingerling potatoes and the last of the yellow teardrop tomatoes decided to join the fun, and brought along their friend Mr. Basil. A splash of chicken stock that had been hiding in the freezer and a slow simmer for an hour, the kitchen sink soup was almost ready to be consumed.  A sad looking piece of cauliflower and a few ears of corn and the tatsoi were added to the giant pot of bubbling goo. Off the heat and into big white bowls where it was topped off with little croutons made from our week old bread and a shaving of Old Growler cheese. This steaming bowl of goodness was by far the most favorite of my recent dinners, and it was all made with the goodies that were lurking in the cupboards and fridge, just waiting for their time to shine.