Chicken and Noodles in Spiced Broth

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The February 2010 issue of Food & Wine (an excellent magazine!) featured this as a "Healing Recipe To Fight Pain and Panic" It uses so many of the ingredients we offer, so we demonstrate it for you here. We did modify it a bit--the original recipe calls for only salt and pepper to taste, we changed that to a combination of fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar as listed below. The soup tastes spicy, rich, fills your stomach and clears your mind. A real winner.

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
6 1/2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 star anise pods
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 cinnamon stick
One 3-inch strip of orange zest
One 4-inch piece of peeled fresh ginger—1 inch cut into fine matchsticks, the rest thinly sliced
6 shiitake mushrooms (or any fresh mushrooms) stems discarded and caps thinly sliced
Four 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3 ounces bean thread noodles
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced

Method

Soak the shiitake mushrooms in warm water for 20-30 minutes, covered. Remove from water, gently squeeze, and slice.

In a mortar and pestle, crush the Sichuan peppercorns until fine but not powdery. Add the salt and lightly crush to combine, leaving it coarse in texture. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the stock with the star anise, black peppercorns, cinnamon stick, orange zest and the sliced ginger. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over moderately low heat until fragrant and flavorful, about 20 minutes. Strain the broth into a clean pot and season with fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Add the mushrooms, cover and cook over low heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Keep the broth hot.

In a large saucepan of water, poach the chicken at a very low simmer at low heat just until it is white throughout, about 18 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, pat dry and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice the chicken crosswise on the diagonal 1/2 inch thick.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, soak the noodles in hot water until pliable, about 5 minutes. Drain and transfer the noodles to the hot broth. Let stand until heated through, about 1 minute. Ladle the noodles, mushrooms and broth into shallow bowls. Top with the sliced chicken breasts, scallions and ginger matchsticks. Sprinkle the chicken with the Sichuan pepper-salt and serve.

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