Simple Hand Made Noodles

Don't be intimidated by the thought of making egg noodles. It's not commonly done, but it isn't really very hard, and you don't have to have a pasta maker to do it.

I should qualify that a little. Most of the recipes that I have seen originated on a farm, or maybe in the army and they make huge batches of noodles. This used to be a way of using/storing eggs. If you lived on a farm, your chickens would lay grundles of eggs in the spring and summer, and then production would fall off to almost nothing in the fall and winter. So, smart farm wives would make a lot of noodles when there were a lot of eggs, and once they were dried, they would keep for months. However, none of us lives on a farm, and eggs are available all through the year. So why make noodles - well because they taste great, and sometimes you might run short on pasta.

Ingredients:

Flour
Eggs
Salt

The ratio that I like to use is 1/2 cup flour to 1 egg, and a pinch of salt (1/16 tsp or so ).

Put the flour in a bowl and break the eggs into it. Add the salt. Mix with a spoon until you can knead it.

Remove the noodle dough from the bowl and put on a floured surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top and roll it to ~1/8" thick. Re-dust with flour, fold it back onto it self and add a little more flour and roll it out again. Keep repeating this folding, flouring and rolling until the dough is pretty dry and not sticky at all.

Then, one final time, roll it very thin- as thin as you can and cut it into strips with a pizza cutter.

There are your noodles. Drop them into boiling soup or boiling water. If you have extras, drape them over a large kettle or bowl and let them air dry. You might want to warm the oven just a little when you put them in - maybe 120-150 deg F.

Tonight I used 1-1/2 cups of flour and used 3 eggs, and I made enough soup for Annie and I to eat a couple of meal from, and still had almost half the noodles drying in the oven.

Egg Drop Soup

5 cups chicken stock/broth
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 2-inch piece ginger root, peeled
1 garlic clove
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 green onion, thinly sliced
sesame oil

In a large pot, combine stock and soy sauce. Grate in ginger and garlic, stir. Bring to a boil. Let boil 4 or 5 minutes, then reduce to a simmer. Stirring soup in a circular motion, slowly pour eggs into soup in a continuous stream. Let simmer undisturbed until egg is cooked (approx. 1 minute). Pour into serving bowls, top with green onion and a small drizzle of sesame oil.

Goes Well With: Chinese food, obviously.
Tips: If you can't foresee using the rest of your ginger root anytime soon, put it in a ziploc bag and pop it in the freezer. It'll keep forever(ish).

Potato Corn Chowder

Combine in large saucepan or medium size pot:
1/4 C butter
2 1/4 C water
2/3 C chopped celery (optional)
3 chopped green onions (optional)
4 C diced potatoes (about 4 to 5 medium potatoes) Leave the skins on if you want.

Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes. Don't let the potatoes get mushy. While potatoes are simmering, make a white sauce.

6 T butter, melted in the pot that you are using to make the white sauce
Gradually stir in 6 T flour
Add:
2 1/2 C milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Simmer until slightly thickened.

Add white sauce directly to cooked potatoes. Don't drain potatoes.

Add: 2 C grated cheddar cheese and 2 cans, drained, corn.
Heat through. May also add bacon pieces as garnish. A thick soup that serves well in a bread bowl. Serves about 6 people

Cook's note: Use real butter in this recipe, not margerine. Margerine will not thicken up the white sauce. Use whole or at least 2% milk.