“The Italian Ramen is a delicious cross-cultural take on chicken soup. The angel hair pasta represents Italy; the soft-boiled egg and chile oil evoke Japan” – Food & Wine

Italian Ramen – I have this lovely American colleague that started working with me this year and she reports to me what she cooked the night before (and I of course report to her :-)) and sometimes she brings along a small tester portion for me to taste. The American’s name is Madeleine. I needed to clarify that because I have another American in my life that I love dearly – she is another talented foodie and I will talk about her at a later stage.

So one morning Madeleine brought this delicious chicken based soup to the office – an Italian Ramen. It just blew me away – the chicken broth was so intense and just perfectly infused with the herbs. The chicken was cooked to perfection and the crunchy carrots added a wonderful sweetness and texture to the dish. Madeleine sent me a link to this specific recipe on Food & Wine’s website and I decided to make it – this is not a dish you want to fiddle with – It is perfect as is. It takes about 3.5 hours to make but its well worth doing it.

This soup is served with a beautiful soft boiled egg – the traditional Ramen way … the egg compliments the dish but does not steal the limelight from the perfect chicken broth and succulent fleshiness of the white chicken meat.

So here is a quick guide to boiling the perfect soft boil egg:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil add the eggs and cook for 5 minutes. While the eggs are boiling fill another large bowl with cold water. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to the bowl of cold water for 2 minutes. Crack the shells and peel the eggs.

italian ramen - chicken soup for the soul

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

3 hours

Total time

3 hours 20 mins

 

Author: food and wine

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• For the broth
• 1.3kg Chicken, cut into quarters
• 2 White skinned onions, quartered
• 4 Large carrots, cut into large chunks
• 4 Celery sticks, cut into large chunks
• 4 Thyme sprigs
• 2 Rosemary sprigs
• 2 Basil sprigs
• Salt
• Other ingredients
• 2 Carrots cut into fine matchsticks
• 6 Large soft boiled eggs
• 500g Angel hair pasta
• Chilli oil
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Few basil leaves to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 260°C. Arrange the chicken in a roasting pan and roast until the skin is lightly browned – for +- 20 – 30 minutes.
2. Transfer the chicken and any juices to a soup pot. Add the onions, carrot chunks, celery and herb sprigs. Add 3.8L of water and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat until the chicken is cooked, about 30 minutes.
3. Using tongs, remove the chicken from the broth and let cool slightly.
4. Remove the meat from the bones and pull into shreds; discard the skin.
5. Return the bones to the pot and simmer until the broth is reduced to 8 cups, about 1½ hours.
6. Strain the broth, discard the solids and skim off the fat. Season the broth with salt and keep warm.
7. Return the water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain and divide the pasta between 6 large soup bowls.
8. Top with the shredded chicken, carrot matchsticks and soft-boiled eggs.
9. Ladle the hot broth on top, add some chillie oil and garnish with basil leaves and serve hot.

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