golden broth & golden noodle soup; a vegan maybe un-chicken noodle soup

This is a recipe I've been meaning to make all winter. Except that we don't have much of a winter here, and lately the sun's been shining all day long! It's still a bit chilly, though, and it gets dark early, so it's still heavy soup season as far as I'm concerned. 

I've adapted this recipe from The New Laurel's Kitchen. I haven't changed too much; it was vegan to begin with. I only had one carrot when I made this, though, so it went into the broth puree rather than the soup itself. Also, I think it needs more celery than Laurel did. In my experience, a lot of these measurements are approximate – and that is the fun of soup, after all. So if you have one potato that doesn't come to quite one cup, or you want to add extra celery, it's fine.

The following instructions will produce about 10 cups of soup. If you make the broth ahead of time, this is a really no-fuss meal. If you're short on time and don't have the broth already, though, you can make the broth while you cook the noodles and vegetables separately, and combine them after the broth is strained and pureed. Then the cooking time is just about half an hour.

One final note about the whole wheat noodles. Whole wheat pasta (much like brown rice) is something I wish I really enjoyed, but usually don't. However! It's perfect in this soup. I wouldn't like this recipe with another kind of noodle.

GOLDEN BROTH

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup yellow split peas

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

8 cups hot water

1 chopped, unpeeled potato (optional)

1 stalk celery, roughly chopped, with leaves (optional)

1 carrot, roughly chopped (optional)

Sauté onion, whole garlic clove, and split peas in oil until delicately brown. Stir in turmeric and add water and any of the optional vegetables. Simmer at least half an hour. Strain for a thin stock, puree for a thick one. I like pureeing, then if I run out of noodles I have a light vegetable soup!

If you can’t find yellow split peas, or just want to try something different, green broth is as good as golden broth! Just substitute green peas for yellow, add a bay leaf and omit the turmeric.

GOLDEN NOODLE SOUP

about 8 cups golden broth (1 recipe of the above)

big handful whole wheat ribbon noodles

1 cup or so peeled and chopped potato

1 cup or so each diced carrot and/or celery

1 teaspoon salt (or more – I find I usually need more)

½ cup parsley for garnish

Bring the broth to boil in a heavy pan. Add potatoes and salt. Reduce heat and simmer gently until the potatoes are starting to get tender, about twenty minutes. Then add the celery, carrots, and noodles, and cook until noodles are al dente and carrots and celery are cooked, but still crispy. (If you don’t like crispy veggies in your soup, you can add the carrots and celery with the potato – but I think 30 minutes total is a bit of a stretch for vegetables like celery and carrots, which have such a great crunch to them.) Stir in the parsley, adjust seasoning, and serve.