Lazy Artichoke-Beef-Chicken Soup : Noodles and Potatoes

This simple soup for me was about minimizing waste and trying to make something tasty out of ingredients I can’t seem to find a use for sometimes. I’ve been staring at these 2 artichokes sit at the bottom of my refrigerator for almost a week, pathetic, but can’t get myself motivated enough to cook them and deal with the mess (hard work and this is a lazy soup) that usually goes along with prepping this vegetable. I really enjoy making stock, because it’s about extracting flavor and nothing else, simple as that, and most of the hard work is done by the stock pot with the help of time. Armed with a sharp knife, a chicken backbone, uncooked that I was getting ready to throw away, the artichokes and some beef trimmings from a borgignon stew I made earlier, I got to work. The weather is getting colder and soup cravings go up. Making soup seemed like the the logical thing to do. Avid cooks out there probably need to skip this post, the level of difficulty here is extremely easy, but easy doesn’t mean lacking tastiness. Here’s how!

Ingredients:

Stock:

2 big artichokes, chopped by half
500g beef trimmings
1 chicken carcass/backbone
1 bay leave
1 tbsp olive oil

Soup:

3-4 cups of stock (see above)
1 large peeled yukon/white potato cubed 1/2″
200g fideos
3-4 green onions, finely chopped
Soy sauce to taste
Drizzle of schmaltz or olive oil/sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds

The procedure is very simple. First, to make the stock, add the oil to a stock pot, heat up to medium high, when oil shimmers add the beef trimmings and the chicken, and let sizzle for about 4 minutes. You could break the chicken into chunks for more even cooking, I didn’t bother. Work in batches if necessary. Again, I didn’t bother, it is a lazy soup after all, actually, it’s just a lazy cook today. Did I pat anything dry before adding it to the pot? no, these ingredients had been sitting in my fridge uncovered for a couple of days, the moisture was removed by my fridge.

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Now that there’s some browning going. Throw the artichokes in the pot, stir everything and mix well. Add the bay leave and enough cool water to cover everything. Bring to a simmer and cook covered for about 2 hours, or 1 hour in a pressure cooker. Strain the stock through kitchen paper towels to remove the fat and any grit. Clean the stockpot and return the stock to it. Bring to a boil and reduce by half. It will take about 15 minutes. Season with soy sauce until happy.

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Add the potatoes, cook for about 5 minutes. Add the fideos and cook for another 5 minutes or until tender. I like fideos or any soup noodles a little softer than al dente pasta, just slightly less bite up to you. To serve, ladle soup into individual bowls, add the green onions and the toasted sesame seeds serve. I’m a huge fan of meals that can be cooked in one pot. This is one of them!

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9 comments

    1. thank you so much! so glad you like it! Fideos are noodles that are cut short (sometimes left uncut) and thinner than say.. spaghetti, about half the thickness, they are made with the same ingredients than regular pasta if am not mistaken, and their origin is spanish, but for example, the ones I used were made here in the US. And I remember fideos back in Venezuela were manufactured there as well. Thank you for stopping by 🙂

  1. A lazy soup?!?! Sounds right up my alley. Haha! But I’ll admit that I’ve never worked with artichokes before. Probably because it’s not really found in asian cuisine. I mean, my mum had never eaten fennel till she was in her 50s, when she was visiting me. Not gonna wait another 20 years before I try cooking artichokes. It’s now on my to-cook list.

    1. I’ll be honest too, I’ve not had much experience with artichokes either, I’ve steamed them, so the leaves get coked, then you pull them and dip them in aioli and eat the fleshy part at the base of the leaves and then eat the heart, but really prepping artichokes where you trim them and remove the throw away stuff is an undertaking haven’t experienced yet 🙂 there are plenty of ingredients I haven’t worked with either, more fun to be had i guess!

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