Soup with a sizzle

It's January 9, 2010 and mother nature is breathing her icy breath across the midwest. What better dish to serve up on an eight degree day than a steaming bowl of soup? I make soup all the time, but today I tried something a little different. One of my favorite soups at a restaurant is the sizzling rice soup at Yen Ching on Brentwood across from the Galleria. I had some left over fried rice I made a couple of nights earlier, and it occurred to me that spreading the rice on a baking sheet and baking it until dry and crispy could serve as the basis for my own sizzling rice soup.

I began by making a stock soup in the crock pot. I chopped celery and carrots into small pieces and added two and half quarts of low sodium, no MSG chicken broth. A teaspoon of Sriracha sauce and a few dashes of bon herbes from Penzey's spices and the stock soup was ready to begin simmering. I then sauteed a couple of chicken breasts in some fresh garlic and couple teaspoons of low sodium soy sauce. Once the cooked chicken had cooled, I cut them up into small cubes and added it to the soup stock. The addition of bamboo shoots and diced water chestnuts is optional, and since my fried rice already had water chestnuts in it, I elected not to add more water chestnuts or any bamboo shoots.

I then spread the fried rice on a baking sheet in a quarter-inch thin layer and baked it at 300 degrees for 55 minutes until the rice was dry and crisped. I set the pan aside until the soup had simmered for five to seven hours in the crock pot. A half hour before the soup was ready to serve, I added several large shrimp that I cut into three or four pieces each. Upon serving the soup, I added a half cup of the baked rice to each bowl. While the soup is very basic and simple to make, it warms the cockles and has a delicate yet flavorful taste.

However, unless you are a very light eater (which I obviously am not), or you eat a huge bowl of soup, a side dish would seem appropriate. In the case of soup, a bread is the perfect companion. I happened to have a whole grain baguette handy, and cut the loaf in half long way. I drizzled some basil-infused olive oil onto the bread and covered it with a mixture of parmesan and asiago cheeses (or substitute whatever you have on hand). I baked the bread until the cheese was golden brown and served it with the steaming soup. Dipping the edge of the crusty bread into the soup proved to be a delicious maneuver. The soup and bread combination was an easy, tasty and thoroughly warming meal. The crispy rice in the soup was a nice twist and yet another example of if you can imagine it, somebody can cook it.