Thursday, June 28, 2007

Presto Pasta Night #18

For this edition of Presto Pasta Night hosted by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast I've opted for something that's more on the presto side.

filini-vermicelles

These are Filini-Vermicelli and one of the things I love most about them is that they cook in 3 minutes. When you think about it, with just chicken stock and these noodles, you could have chicken noodle soup done in a flash. Why would you even bother with those cup-a-soup varieties?

For this weeks offering I have produced a more substantial soup which is just perfect for our rather cold weather at the moment. I've kept the flavours fairly clean and used leek, celery, radish and cannellini beans to accompany the pasta along with chicken thigh meat.

From start to finish you could probably make this soup in under 15 minutes.

soup

Chicken Vermicelli Soup
[Serves 2]

2 skinless chicken thighs, sliced finely
1 leek, halved and sliced finely
2 radish, cut into small matchsticks
3 stalks celery, sliced finely (choose the inner light green stalks of the celery heart - use less if they are the darker outside stalks)
reserved leaves from celery stalkes, finely chopped
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 handfuls Filini-Vermicelli pasta
chicken stock

Heat a little oil and a knob of butter in a saucepan and when the butter has melted add the sliced leek. Let this gently soften for a minute before adding the celery and radish. Stir often to ensure it doesn't brown and that the vegetables are cooking evenly.

After another 2 minutes add the chicken. When the chicken has changed colour add the stock and let this simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the drained beans and when they have heated through add the pasta. Stir this well and let this cook for 2 minutes.

Add the reserved celery leaves and the put the lid on the pan and turn off the heat.

The heat will continue to cook the pasta - you may notice that it will start absorbing the stock, if it looks too thick just add some more hot chicken stock and bring it back to simmering point.

Before serving, taste and adjust the seasoning. If you like sprinkle over with freshly grated Parmesan.

Just to show the versatility of Vermicelli do have a look at the wonderful tart Myriam made!

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4 comments

  1. Haalo, the soup looks so soothing and delicious, I want some right now even though I haven't even had breakfast yet! Given that our weather changes from cold to hot and back to cold again...it's perfect!

    Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Night.

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  2. Thanks Ruth - soothing is a very apt description.

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  3. hi luv. how funny is this? - i was using vermicelli this week, too (but couldnt help it and make something sweet with it...). looks lovely!

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  4. It happens so often Myriam - I couldn't think of anything nicer after a bowl of this soup then to have a large slice of your tart!

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