TFF – Asian Egg Drop Soup

During the onslaught of cooking that was my weekend with Ginny, we used eight egg yolks for a lovely crème brulee . We both hate to waste food, so we just couldn’t bring ourselves to toss the remaining eight egg whites in the trash. There are only so many things that you can use excess egg whites for.

1. Angel Food Cake – yeah, blah....its not my favorite thing.
2. Egg White Omelet – nope, not really in the mood for breakfast.
3. Egg Drop Soup – now THAT sounds like a fine idea!

For our weekend activities, this soup was the perfect solution. We had leftover egg whites. We were making fried chicken that night for supper and I had a bunch of miscellaneous “parts” that I didn’t want to fry (backbones, etc). we had scallions, and fresh ginger, and some noodles (more on that later!). So, this was basically a no-cost meal.
We started by roasting the chicken parts on a baking sheet, then simmering them in water with some random veggies and herbs we had laying around the kitchen and/or garden. Carrots, oregano, etc. I also had a few containers of homemade chicken stock in my freezer from another time.
Me being the fool for Tyler Florence that I am, I called Sylvia and she scrounged up this recipe (thanks, MEF!) for me.
It was.....okay. Sorry, Tyler, but while this is a good starting point, and very helpful in our process, the resulting soup was very.....bland. I know, I know, egg drop soup is not traditionally a show stopper, but I had higher ambitions this weekend.
So, this is what we did. After we brought the soup to a boil, then stirred in the egg whites (by the way, whisk those puppies up good before you mix them in! I didn’t do such a great job of that and I ended up with a few small omelets in my soup!). We tasted, and re-seasoned, and re-seasoned, and...well....re-seasoned again. It was just....lacking something. We added more soy sauce, more ginger, the chicken Ginny picked off the roasted and stewed chicken parts, a half a white onion we had leftover, a bunch of rice vinegar, and a teaspoon or so of Korean red pepper flake.
At this point, we were finally happy with the soup, and I am thrilled to be eating it for lunch today! But we did end up adding one more thing.
See, I follow Hungry Girl, and she is a HUGE fan of Tofu Shiratake noodles. Do you have any idea how hard those suckers are to find??? Ginny finally ran across a package in Iowa and brought it out with her so we could try them. Our plan was to make a stir fry and put it over the noodles, but the weekend got away from us and we didn’t get that meal accomplished. So, after rinsing, and draining, and drying....and rinsing some more (those things are really STINKY but don’t be put off, they turn out fine) we tossed them in the soup! (This is where I admit that instead of breaking them into smaller pieces, we left them whole so that if they were gross, it would be easier to pull them out of the soup.) Those noodles turned out to be a really tasty addition to the soup, and at only 20 calories a serving, a real winner! As hard as they are to find around here, I figure I won’t be likely to use them again, but I’m glad I got a chance to try them at least this one time!
Here is Tyler’s recipe for the soup, if you’re looking for something basic to start with.

Asian Egg Drop Soup
Ingredients
4 cups prepared chicken stock, plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 green onions, chopped, including ends
Salt and white pepper, to taste
Directions
Bring soup stock, grated ginger and soy sauce to a boil. In a small cup, make a slurry by combining the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of chicken stock. Stir until dissolved. Slowly pour in the cornstarch mixture while stirring the stock, until thickened. Reduce heat to a simmer. Pour in the eggs slowly while stirring the soup in the same direction.The egg will spread and feather. Turn off the heat and add the green onions. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

This is my submission to Tyler Florence Fridays this week.