Chicken Vermicelli Soup with Pan-Fried Chicken Breast

Name: Chicken Vermicelli Soup with Pan-Fried Chicken Breast
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Chicken breast fillet 1; Fine vermicelli 0.5 cup; Carrot 1; Onion 1; Salt, black peppercorns, bay leaf, vegetable oil to taste; Dried soup roots, lemongrass, dried green onion optional

Since childhood I've loved a simple chicken soup with very few vegetables. But it must have vermicelli in it: that's how it was always made at home when there was a farm chicken. A broiler chicken makes it hard to get that kind of flavor. Quite by accident, though, a version with pan-fried chicken breast and vermicelli turned out very well. It's a light first course, easy to cook, with a wonderful delicate taste that brings back childhood. Try it, you'll like it.

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Ingredients

2 servings

Chicken breast fillet 1
Fine vermicelli 0.5 cup
Carrot 1
Onion 1
Salt, black peppercorns, bay leaf, vegetable oil to taste
Dried soup roots, lemongrass, dried green onion optional

Step-by-step recipe

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For this vermicelli soup with pan-fried chicken you can use ordinary store-bought chicken. It's mostly sold “chilled”, never frozen, so it releases less liquid when fried. One large fillet is enough for two servings. For the vermicelli I use Italian soup pasta, filini: it is very small and cooks in just three minutes, which is perfect for soup. It also doesn't swell and keeps its shape even when fully cooked.
Trim the chicken fillet of membranes and large pieces of fat. Cut the meat through its thickness so you can open it like a book. Pound the fillet with a meat mallet to even out the thickness. Heat a frying pan and grease it with a few drops of vegetable oil. Lay the fillet on the hot pan.
While frying, press the chicken against the bottom of the pan with a spatula. Fry the meat on both sides until it starts to brown and is cooked through in the middle. Try not to overcook it. You can turn the meat quite often as it fries, which helps it cook evenly. Move the cooked fillet to a cutting board and cut it into thin strips or slices, as you prefer.
Peel the onion and carrot and cut them into matchsticks. Put the vegetables and the sliced fried chicken into a pot and pour in 5-6 cups of water. Set the pot on the heat. Meanwhile, prepare the spices and extras. So they don't float around in the soup, put them in a sachet bag. I add 1 tsp of dried lemongrass, 4-5 crushed black peppercorns, 1-2 bay leaves, 1 tbsp of dried soup roots (parsley, celery and so on) and 1 tsp of dried green onion, which gives the soup a wonderful aroma. Tie the bag and drop it into the pot.
When the soup boils, reduce the heat and cover the pot. Simmer gently for 25-30 mins, stirring occasionally. In that time you get an excellent broth from the fried chicken, and the vegetables cook through. Even though it's broiler chicken, the broth stays clear. Salt the broth to taste. Add the fine soup vermicelli and stir.
Cook the soup with the vermicelli for about 3-4 mins, which is enough. Adjust the time if the package says otherwise. The vermicelli should be fully cooked but not mushy. Ladle the finished soup into bowls. If you like, sprinkle with a pinch of finely chopped parsley or green onion tops. Serve while hot. With fresh bread it's incredibly good, though wheat croutons are fine too, as you prefer.
You can make this soup not only with breast fillet but with other parts of the chicken, if you can roast the meat on a grill. Just remove the skin and large pieces of fat, which you don't need. A very small amount of curry powder, literally on the tip of a knife, improves the flavor nicely. Curry also improves the color of the broth.